Airbus A350

The Airbus A350-900 is a long-range, wide-body jet airliner manfactured by Airbus. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbus A330 with composite wings and new engines. As market support was inadequate, in 2006, Airbus switched to a clean sheet "Airbus A350-900 XWB" design, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB turbofan engines. The prototype first flew on June 14, 2013 from Toulouse in France. Type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was obtained in September 2014, followed with a certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) two months later.

The A350 is the first Airbus aircraft largely made by carbon fibre reinforced polymer. It has a new fuselage designed similar to the Airbus A320, around a nine-abreast economy cross section, up from the abreast of the A330/A340. It has a common type rating with the A330. The airliner has two variants: the A350-900 typically carries 300 to 350 passengers over a 15,000-kilometre (8,100-nautical-mile) range, and has a 280-tonne (617,300-pound) maxinum takeoff weight (MTOW); the longer A350-1000 accommodates 350 to 410 passengers and has a maximum range of 16,100 km (8,700 nmi) and a 319 t (703,200 lb) MTOW.

On 15 January 2015, the initial A350-900 entered service with Qatar Airways, followed by the A350-1000 on 24 February 2018 with the same launch customer. Singapore Airlines is currently the largest operator with 56 airplanes in its fleet. As of November 2021, A350 orders stood at 913 aircraft, of which 445 had been delivered and all were in service with 39 operators. The global A350 fleet had completed more than 700,000 flights on more than 772 routes without accidents. It succeeds the Airbus A340 and is positioned to compete against Boeing's large long-haul twinjets: the Boeing 767, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the Boeing 777, and its successor, the Boeing 777X.

Background and early designs
Airbus initially rejected Boeing's claim that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner would be a serious threat to the Airbus A330, stating that the 787 was just a reaction to the A330 and that no response was needed. When airlines urged Airbus to provide a competitor, Airbus initially proposed the "A330-200Lite", a derivative of the A330 featuring improved aerodynamics and engines similar to those on the 787. The company planned to announce this version at the 2004 Farnborough Airshow, but did not proceed.

On 16 September 2004, Airbus president and chief executive officer Noel Foregeard confirmed the consideration of a new project during a private meeting with prospective customers. Forgeard did not give a project name, and did not state whether it would be an entirely new design or a modification of an existing product. Airline dissatisfaction with this proposal motivated Airbus to commit €4 billion to a new airliner design.

On 10 December 2004, Airbus' shareholders, EADS and BAE Systems, approved the "authorisation to offer" for the A350, expecting a 2010 service entry. Airbus then expected to more than half of the 250-300 seat aircraft market, estimated at 3,100 aircraft overall over 20 years. Based on the A330, the 245-seat A350-800 was to fly over a 8,600 nmi (15,900 km) range and the 285-seat A350-900 over a 7,500 nmi (13,900 km) range. Fuel effincency would improve by over 10% with a mostly Carbon fibre reinforced polymer wing and initial General Electric GEnx-72A1 engines, before offering a choice of powerplant. It had a common fuselage cross-section with the A330 and also a new horizontal stabilisser.

On 13 June 2005 at the Paris Air Show, Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways announced that they had placed an order for 60 A350s. In September 2006 the airline signed a memorandum of understanding with General Electric (GE) to launch the GEnx-1A-72 engine for the aircraft.