Airbus factories prepare first fuselage structures for A350-1000

Following the recent delivery of the A350-1000's first forward fuselage (“Section 13/14”) by the Airbus Group subsidiary Premium Aerotec (in Nordenham, Germany), to Airbus' Hamburg plant for systems installation, the section was subsequently delivered to Airbus Saint-Nazaire plant to be mated with the cockpit fuselage “Section 11/12” panels (from Aerolia).

Airbus engineers have developed various enhancements for this version of the A350 which is 3.81m longer than the A350-900. For example, the door frames are now made of carbon fibre instead of titanium, while the underfloor structure has been optimised. In addition, the hydraulic system has been improved by a simplified connection to the airframe and the electrical cable bundling has been refined.

Meanwhile the first rear fuselage (Section 16/19) is currently in the final stages of structural assembly in Hamburg and will be delivered to the Toulouse final assembly line in February.