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Airbus test pilots and managers celebrated Friday after the long-awaited inaugural flight of the Airbus A350 XWB went off without a hitch. Aviation enthusiasts around the world had their eyes on France as the aircraft took off from Toulouse-Blagnac airport around 10 a.m. local time and landed safely about four hours later.

PARIS -- Flanked by his new management team, the co-chief executive of Airbus proclaimed here Tuesday that "Airbus is back, and fully back." That upbeat message from Louis Gallois to a packed media briefing hall came one day after an Airbus order bonanza -- 219 firm orders and another 120 commitments that Airbus said will be firmed up soon. And Airbus added to that impressive total Tuesday. But it must still convince one of the world's most important aviation executives and its best customer that the A350 XWB, the new jet that Airbus is counting on to help even the...

Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus, is to launch an urgent effort at the Paris air show, which opens on Monday, to keep the struggling group’s €10bn development of its A350 family of long-range jets on track. He is to hold talks with Steven Udvar Hazy, chief executive of ILFC, one of the world’s top two aircraft leasing companies and one of the world’s most influential buyers of aircraft, to try to overcome the serious doubts Mr Udvar-Hazy has again expressed about the design choices Airbus has made for the A350. The aircraft is crucial to the group’s plans for...

Qatar Airways has come to the rescue of the Airbus A350-XWB, ordering 80 of the next-generation jets in a move that effectively underpins the development project. The $16bn (£8bn) deal is a major shot in the arm for the struggling plane maker, which had to scrap plans for the original metal-based A350 last year as customers flocked to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, made of carbon composites. Until yesterday, Airbus had just 13 firm orders for the revamped model due in 2013, leaving it doubtful whether the aircraft would ever be built. Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, said the orders...

Two airlines are close to pledging large orders for Airbus's proposed A350 aircraft, giving the European planemaker a welcome piece of good news. As workers at the troubled company prepare for more strikes, Qatar Airways and Russia's Aeroflot said they were interested in orders worth $30bn (£15.4bn) at list prices. Qatar said it aimed to buy 80 A350 airliners worth $17.2bn, one of the biggest orders in Airbus's history, while Aeroflot said it would order 22 of the same aircraft "in the coming weeks". With the €10bn (£6.8bn) development of the longhaul A350 still in progress and some funding issues...

Airbus appears to be moving toward adopting a solid composite barrel for its A350 XWB after receiving mixed feedback on its plan to use composite panels on an aluminum frame. According to industry analysts, trade studies are underway in Toulouse for the change. Last fall ATWOnline revealed that Airbus was swapping to a composite structure (ATWOnline, Oct. 25, 2006) and that the aircraft's EIS would slip to 2014. The latest mooted change would not surprise Emirates President Tim Clark, who told this website yesterday that he feels the future lies in a 787-style structure. "That is the way [the industry]...

PARIS -- Airbus said Monday it wants suppliers to its A350 XWB mid-sized airliner to fund over 15 percent of the cost of the project, the company's 11.6 billion euro ($15.4 billion) answer to the Boeing 787 "Dreamliner." But the European planemaker said no decision had been made on the rest of the funding or where to build the new plane, planned to enter service in 2013. ...snip.... Gallois, who has warned workers to expect job cuts, said a decision on the A350 final assembly would be announced early in 2007 along with other restructuring measures. ....snip