Airbus A350 Marks 10-Year Anniversary In Revenue Service

On a December day at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport toward the end of 2024, the apron is full of new aircraft, some ready to be picked up by their customers but many waiting for components. Airbus A350s are parked everywhere, even in front of the old Jean-Luc Lagardere site on the other side of the runway, once built for the A380 and now hosting an A321neo final assembly line. “We are disappointed,” says Julien Puyou, head of Airbus widebody programs.

Of course, there is no reason to be disappointed in the A350 per se. Ten years after the latest Airbus widebody entered service with Qatar Airways on Jan. 15, 2015, it is fair to say that the project has become a big operational and commercial success, despite its tumultuousness. Along with the Boeing 787, the A350 reshaped long-haul travel once again—and killed the A380 as an unintended side effect.

• The A350 established a new reference for long-haul operations alongside Boeing’s 787
• The aircraft’s composite fuselage was a first for Airbus

Moreover, given Boeing 787 quality issues and 777X delays, as well as the strongest widebody demand in a long time, Airbus is convinced that the harvest season for its big twin has arrived. The airframer just needs to figure out how to assemble and deliver more of the aircraft to customers faster.

For Puyou and his veteran colleagues, 2024 must have felt like a throwback to 2016, early in the A350 production ramp-up. Airbus delivered 49 of the aircraft that year on the way to its planned target rate of 10 per month. In 2019, the airframer finally reached that goal, and the program broke even on an operational basis for the first time as well.

It took Airbus five years to achieve that level—but the OEM was not able to maintain it. The COVID-19 pandemic changed everything and slashed demand for widebodies in particular. In 2024, the second or third year of post-pandemic recovery, depending on how you count, Airbus delivered just 33 A350s through November, far fewer than even at the crisis’s peak in 2020, when it delivered 59, and fewer than in any year since initial production began.

The slow pace of production recovery is what frustrates Puyou.

Concept and Development

Well before the first delivery, the A350 program experienced several unforeseen twists. Its development was triggered by competition with Boeing, which had launched studies into a new widebody that eventually morphed from the early-2000s “Sonic Cruiser” concept into today’s 787.

Whatever Boeing did, Airbus had to react. Its widebody lineup in the early 2000s consisted of the A330, an efficient and versatile twin that had big sales success in Asia and good incumbency in Europe but was less popular in the U.S. Airbus’ weak point was the increasingly uneconomical four-engine A340. The A380 had been launched in 2000 but not yet delivered. Production flaws and billions in cost overruns had brought Airbus to the brink, forcing it to institute a major cost-cutting program dubbed Power8. In the mid-2000s, the company was vulnerable, despite the growing success of the narrowbody A320 program.

Airbus leaders initially thought there was a quick and relatively cheap fix. All Airbus needed to do was modernize the A330 into the A350 by adding new engines and some other tweaks to make it more efficient, the argument went. It would appeal to the large A330 customer base, plus those operating A340s, by ensuring a great deal of commonality. A revamped A330-to-A350 also would be available sooner than a new Airbus or Boeing aircraft. It all seemed to make sense.

The market, however, did not buy it. Steven Udvar-Hazy, then-chairman of International Lease Finance Corp., made no secret of his view that Airbus’ plan would not give customers what they actually wanted.

Lessors were never going to be the main target audience for widebodies, given the relatively small numbers produced. Still, Udvar-Hazy’s opinion was valued then, as it is today. “I did not design the A350; I just redesigned it,” he once joked. Other players agreed with Udvar-Hazy’s view that the initial concept was just a “Band-Aid reaction” to the 787. Singapore Airlines was unusually clear that if Airbus wanted it to buy the A350, the airframer would have to offer something better.

In the early part of 2006, it became increasingly clear that the original idea was a nonstarter. Airbus officially announced the clean-sheet concept of what would become today’s A350 at the 2006 Farnborough International Airshow. The Airbus board finally approved the decision almost six months later, illustrating how difficult it was for the distressed company to move ahead with another multibillion-dollar development program when the troubled A380 had yet to enter service (and would not do so until October 2007).

In hindsight, the debates of 2006—and ultimately the decision to move ahead with the much more expensive A350 version—proved pivotal for the future of Airbus, considering how the long-haul aircraft market has developed in the 18 years since.

The A350 also marked Airbus’ full shift into composite manufacturing. While the company had used the material for some components, the A350 was the first with an entirely composite fuselage. Unlike Boeing, which used all-composite sections produced in one piece, Airbus chose composite panels. With the A350 already behind the 787 in timing, that move proved quicker, less expensive and less risky, avoiding the massive investment in tooling and large autoclaves that full barrels would have necessitated. Airbus also asserted that panels would be easier to repair.

The airframer initially conceived of the A350 as a three-member family with a baseline A350-900, a smaller -800 and a larger -1000. However, it soon dropped the -800 to cut back on development efforts and costs. The market also clearly favored the larger versions. Much later, a third family member was added: the A350F.

In-Service Performance

The -900 made its first flight on June 14, 2013, in front of a large crowd of Airbus employees, among them program chief Didier Evrard. It was certified on Sept. 30, 2014. Although its initial schedule had projected first delivery for mid-2013, the A350 stayed remarkably on track compared with the extent of recent delays across many Airbus programs.    

In the years since, customers have ordered 1,345 A350s, 628 of which were delivered by the end of November. There have been 2,388 orders for the Boeing 787, which was launched in 2004 and entered service in 2011, four years before the A350.

Since its service entry, the A350 fleet has accumulated 10.6 million flight hours and 1.6 million flight cycles. The -900 variant leads the fleet with 37,000 hr. and more than 7,800 takeoffs. According to Airbus data, the fleet achieved 99.3% dispatch reliability in Year 2, 99.5% in Year 5 and is currently at 99.2%.

The A350 has experienced one hull loss: On Jan. 2, 2024, a Japan Airlines A350-900 attempted to land on Tokyo-Haneda Airport’s Runway 34R but struck a Japan Coast Guard De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300 maritime patrol aircraft that had entered the runway without clearance. While five onboard the Dash 8 lost their lives, everyone on the A350 survived, although some were injured. The accident validated the structural strength of the A350’s composite fuselage as well as its ability to withstand a forceful impact and heat long enough for passengers and crew to evacuate.

Strong Customer Base in Europe and Asia

The evolution of the A350 customer base since 2015 reflects that of air transport as a whole. The type’s predominant success has been in Asia, where most of the big players have placed substantial orders. China’s Big Three carriers—Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines—operate substantial fleets. Singapore Airlines bought 65 of the type, and the A350 has become the dominant long-haul aircraft for airlines in Taiwan and South Korea. In Europe, Lufthansa, International Airlines Group and Air France-KLM have purchased large numbers of A350s.

The U.S. is the program’s weakest major market. Delta Air Lines so far has committed to 69 -900s and -1000s. A United Airlines order for 45 -900s remains in Airbus’ backlog, but it has been pushed back repeatedly over several years. The airline is not showing much interest in receiving the type anytime soon, if ever, considering it also has ordered 237 of the competing 787s since 2005.

After settling a bitter fight out of court over surface degradation on many of its Airbus aircraft, Qatar Airways has remained the largest A350 customer in the Middle East, with orders for 76 aircraft. Emirates finally joined the program in 2019, after many years of hesitation, with an initial order for 50 -900s; it expanded that to 65 in 2023. Its first aircraft was delivered in November. Emirates has highlighted severe durability issues on the -1000’s Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines and made clear that it will not order the larger variant until the engine-maker can guarantee much longer time on wing.

Emirates’ future operating profile for the A350 reflects the aircraft’s in-service profile. The average stage length of the -900 in-service fleet is a relatively short 6.35 flight hours; for the -1000, it is 8.24 flight hours. Many Asian carriers use the aircraft for true long-haul services to Europe and the U.S. as well as on dense regional and sometimes even domestic routes.

Emirates’ incoming fleet is split into two parts. One is a 312-seat version, with 32 seats in business class, 21 in premium economy, 259 in economy and no crew rest area. That variant is operated on routes to Europe, Africa and India, as well as within the Middle East. It is being deployed to Edinburgh, Scotland, in early January and later to other European destinations including Bologna, Italy, and Lyon.

The second batch of A350s will lose 22 economy cabin seats to make space for a crew rest area. The long-range version is planned to fly to destinations in the U.S., Australia and possibly Latin America. According to Emirates Airline Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim, the exact split between the two variants is not yet decided but could be roughly 50-50. “We will decide as we progress,” he says.

Airbus’ ultra-long-range A350-900ULR entered service with Singapore Airlines in 2018 on the carrier’s Singapore-New York route, currently the longest commercial service at 8,300 nm. Qantas has ordered 12 A350-1000s with additional fuel tanks for its Project Sunrise, a nonstop Sydney-London trip of up to 22 hr. and 9,800 nm. Following several delays, the service is to be launched in 2026. Turkish Airlines also plans to fly Istanbul-Sydney nonstop using the A350.

The A350 currently is operated on four of the 10 longest scheduled routes, including the top three. The 787 is used for five of the top 10 and the A380 for one, according to OAG data.

Production Challenges

Airbus had 717 A350s to deliver as of November. To Puyou’s frustration, the airframer delivered fewer aircraft in 2024 than planned. The ambition is clear: Airbus wants to ramp up to a rate of 12 aircraft per month, exceeding its 2019 peak of 10 per month.

The program has been hit hard by the supply chain constraints visible elsewhere. Structural components supplier Spirit AeroSystems in Kinston, North Carolina, required financial infusions in 2024 from its financially strained future and past parent company, Boeing. Moreover, the carve-out of the Airbus work and transfer into its ownership is a long and complicated process.

Cabin parts are another constraint. “We have no seats for some aircraft,” Puyou says, looking out across the final assembly line in Toulouse. The line itself has never stopped, but many aircraft are leaving the hangar with parts missing. They remain parked on the apron at Toulouse-Blagnac, waiting for seats, engines or galley parts.

The good news is that once other obstacles are cleared, the airframer’s current tooling suffices even for rate 13. “Nothing will change between now and rate 12,” Puyou says.

The final assembly system for the A350 is made up of four main stations: 59, 50, 40 and 30. At Station 59, some cabin elements like the galley are usually loaded before the fuselage sections are moved to Station 50, where the fuselage itself is assembled. There, the wings, tailplane and landing gear are attached, and other parts of the cabin installed. Station 30, located in another hangar, is used for testing and further cabin work.

There are three Station 50s and four Station 40s and 30s each. During the height of the pandemic, Airbus idled two Station 50s in order to maintain relatively high-speed production even at low rates. At the moment, it is using two Station 50s for passenger aircraft while dedicating another to the first A350F prototypes. In future normal production, freighters, -900s and -1000s are to be built on mixed lines.

The freighter introduction is not the only change in Airbus’ future backlog. After a slow start, the larger -1000 has attracted a higher share of orders, so its allotment of production capacity will increase. Still, Puyou says that will have “no big impact on the final assembly line.” The target is to keep the same sequence as for the -900.

Airbus’ recent success in selling the A350 to new customers also brings further complexity. In spite of industry efforts to offer more standardized cabin configurations, a high level of customization is still popular with airlines. Emirates alone made the request for two versions, one with and one without a crew rest area. First class also has made a comeback with many customers; 70% of the in-service fleet has a premium economy cabin. Offering four different cabins is no longer unusual, and Airbus has launched a special project to deal with these adjustments more efficiently.

The A350 is now the main platform with which Airbus aims to capture a bigger share of the large freighter market, which Boeing has dominated. Production of the Boeing 747 has ended, the 767F and 777F are in their last phase, and the 777-8F is delayed until 2028. Airbus has announced firm orders for 55 A350Fs, the variant largely based on the -1000 passenger version. The company is producing sections of the first test aircraft, and the final assembly line is slated to be started in mid-2025. First flight is to follow toward year-end and certification in 2026, some two years before the 777-8F.

Given that the A350F is a version of the -1000, Airbus has no major flight-test campaign planned and anticipates around 450 hr. of flight testing.

The aircraft has a 111-metric-ton overall payload capacity, with room for 30 containers on the main deck and 40 LD3 containers on the lower deck. The A350F has the largest main deck cargo door, at 175 in. wide, allowing for the transport of large commercial aircraft engines, among other voluminous cargo.