Still Split On Funding Issues

Friday was supposed to be the day the board at European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company was to vote on funding for the Airbus A350XWB program... but continued bickering over the $10-billion project forced EADS to postpone the meeting for another day, according to Reuters.

That is yet another blow to an already troubled and delayed program. Airbus has spent two years on the A350, originally intended to be the European planemaker's answer to Boeing's upcoming 787 Dreamliner.

As Aero-News reported earlier this year, Airbus heeded calls from customers dissatisfied with the original design and unveiled a completely revamped model, dubbed the A350XWB (for "extra wide body.")

Airbus intends the new plane to do battle on two fronts -- with smaller versions going toe-to-toe with Boeing's three-plane 787 family, and the largest plane competing against the popular Boeing 777.

The XWB redesign pushed off first flight of an A350, however, until 2012 at the earliest... four years after the Dreamliner is expected to enter service. And that was before the current funding battle.

An industry source told Reuters two EADS shareholders, Lagardere and DaimlerChrysler, have concerns over how to fund the redesign program. There are also questions whether even the redesigned A350 -- which utilizes a much higher percentage of composites than the original, A330-derived A350 design -- reaches far enough to do battle with Boeing's successful Dreamliner.

To date, Boeing has garnered over 400 orders for the 787, which is set to make its first flight in late summer 2007. Airbus has firm orders for 100 A350s... orders taken for the original aircraft. To date, the XWB hasn't won any new orders -- despite Airbus' own outlook that calls for more than 5,000 orders for medium-sized aircraft over the next 20 years.

Airbus is grappling with funding shortages in the wake of costly delays to production of the A380 superjumbo airliner. While the company's A320 family of narrowbody planes continues to sell well, Airbus's current A330 and A340 widebody offerings are suffering... a trend that shows no signs of abating in the near future.

FMI: www.airbus.com