A350 Final Assembly Line åpnet - Cockpit

Airbus unveils new aircraft assembly expansion

FRENCH Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault officially unveiled the £9bn Airbus A350 XWB final assembly line (FAL) yesterday.

The A350 XWB is Airbus' all new family of mid-size wide-body airliners.

The Toulouse facility will be named after Airbus pioneer and founding father, Roger Beteille, who was in attendance.

The plant will employ 1,500 people who will build up to 10 aircraft a month from 2018. Wings for all aircraft assembled at the site will continue to be built by the 6,000-strong workforce at the Airbus plant at Broughton, near Chester.

Mr Ayrault and Airbus president and chief executive officer Fabrice Bregier inaugurated the FAL in front of hundreds of workers, politicians, customers and suppliers.

"Innovation is deeply rooted in our DNA and this is fully demonstrated on the A350 XWB, the world's newest, most advanced airliner," said Mr Bregier.

Mr Beteille added: "It is a great honour for me to have my name associated with this magnificent, state of the art FAL.

 

 

Pilots transitioning to the A350 from other Airbus types will be greeted with a familiar cockpit layout, but one which boasts key improvements to their workspace.

Guy Magrin and Frank Chapman, experimental test pilots at the airframer, have been leading the design effort on the cockpit since the twinjet's inception in 2004.

Chapman says: "We have taken advantage of the technological advancements available without changing the basic concept too drastically.

"We have made some changes, but it is based on the A380's design."

Even pilots flying the A320 narrowbody should notice similarities in the way information is presented and in the location of switches, says Chapman.

The time required to transition to the new type will be as short as five days for A380 crews, eight days for those operating A330s and 11 days for A320 pilots, says Magrin