Airbus are planning a long range version of the A350, which will provide British Airways with its need to launch non-stop services to Auckland, and Airbus have been working on the A350-900R.
No they are not. When they launch it you can argue for it, but it hasn't been launched yet. So far it is nothing but A.net rumour. Besides, the economics of operating such a small plane on such a long route is daunting, at best of times.
As well, the A350-100 is better than the 300ER. It is lighter, it is made out of carbon-fibre. It is better than the 777.
That does not make it better. The A350-1000 will have the engines that were made for the smaller variants, hence it won't have enough power to haul enough fuel out of the airport. Without enough fuel, it can't fly far enough. The 777-300ER also has a phenomenal cargo capacity (in fact, i can carry more than the A380) so the A350 is also at a disadvantage here. The A350XWB is simply too narrow to carry enough cargo.
If Rolls Royce decides to add a power upgrade to the Trent XWB, it might be able to surpass the 77W, but until then it can't. Of course, it has considerably lower operating costs, especially on shorter routes, which will make it very popular in Asia and with the Middle Eastern carriers on routes to Europe. It will also be the best on transatlantic routes.
The 77W will win on the Far-East to Europe routes, Europe to western US and Transpacific routes.
The share is true: 60/40 for the A350-1000 and B777-300ER, 90/10 for the A359/B77W, and 70/30 for the A358/789
Disagree. The A350-1000 in it's current form can't perform most of the routes flown by the 777-300ER, so it will be 50/50.
The 787-9 will outsell the A350-800 simply because it offers lower operating costs. It's no different from the A330-300 vs. 777-200A. The small plane that is stretched is more optimised than the big plane that has been shrinked. And the A350-800 won't even have the range advantage of the 777 vs A330.
The 777-200A sold 88 planes. The A330-300 has so far sold 500+. And the 777-200A is a newer plane with newer technologies.
In my opinion Airbus should make 2 versions of the A35J a normal and HGW version for which RR upgrades the Trent-XWB.
I'd tend to agree, but only last week Airbus denied developing a higher powered variant. I also doubt RR will want to develop a new engine right at the moment. Perhaps when the 787 is delivered and the engine is working...
« Last Edit: April 25, 2011, 08:44:07 pm by Virgin Serbia »
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