"No Links" In Certification Of The Two Composite Airplanes

An Airbus official said that the grounding of all 50 Dreamliners that have been delivered will not affect the A350 XWB program, and that the first of Airbus' composite-construction airplanes is on track for its planned 2014 manufacture.

The remarks came in an interview given by EADS director of strategy Marwan Lahoud on French Radio Classique, according to the French news service AFP. He said Boeing's problems with the Dreamliner would not affect the certification of the A350. Lahoud said the certification processes were in no way connected, and that there is "no link between the steps for certification of an aircraft and those for another one."

Lahoud told the interviewer that the news about the Dreamliner is neither good or bad for EADS and Airbus, but an EADS executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity told AFP there were concerns that both the FAA and EASA might make procedures for testing and certification of new airliners more stringent following the Dreamliner incidents.

In a related development, AFP reports that two engineers from Thales have joined the team investigating the battery incident aboard the ANA Dreamliner which made an emergency landing. The French company designed the Dreamliner's electrical system and gave the contract to produce the batteries to the Japanese firm GS Yuasa.

A spokeswoman from the Japanese Transport Safety Board said the Thales engineers were participating "as advisers to the BEA (the French civil aviation authority)."

(Airbus image first flyable A350 XWB on its wheels in December)

FMI: www.eads.com