Planemaker May Have Settled On All-Composite Fuselage

Confirming earlier reports, on Wednesday Qatar Airways signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to buy 80 new Airbus A350 XWB aircraft -- a significant shot-in-the-arm for the European planemaker, and its beleaguered proposed competitor to Boeing's 787.

The agreement was signed at the Elysee Palace in Paris in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar and Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic. Signers included Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al-Baker, and Airbus President and CEO Louis Gallois.

The order makes the airline -- which was the launch customer for the original A350, though it had resisted transferring those 60 orders over to the new plane -- the largest customer to date for the A350 XWB, as well as the first one in the Middle East region. At list prices, the deal is worth as much as $16 billion -- though early customers may see discounts as large as 20 percent, Panmure Gordon airline analyst Nick Cunningham told Bloomberg.

"We are very honored by Qatar Airways' decision to acquire the A350XWB. This is an outstanding endorsement of our newest product by a leading world carrier," said Airbus President and CEO Louis Gallois. "Qatar Airways has been a long standing Airbus customer with orders straddling all our aircraft families, including the A380. I wish to thank Qatar Airways for their latest decision which is a further evidence of the confidence they are placing in all our products."

The 80-plane deal includes 20 A350-800s, 40 A350-900s and 20 of the largest in the family, the A350-1000. Deliveries will begin from 2013. Qatar Airways will use the A350 XWBs to complement its A330s and A340s on regional and long haul routes, according to Airbus.

The Qatar order quadruples Airbus' order tally for the XWB. Prior to Wednesday, Airbus had only received 13 firm orders for the plane -- compared with 567 for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. That figure does not include signed commitments -- not orders -- from Singapore Airlines and Aeroflot for the A350 XWB.

As ANN reported last year, Al-Baker threatened Airbus his airline would opt for the 787 -- slated to enter service in 2008, at least five years before the A350 XWB -- unless Airbus came up with a design that beat the Boeing bird. The carrier remained on the fence even after Airbus unveiled the A350 XWB, which sported an all-new design, including composite body panels over an aluminum frame.

Though Airbus hasn't released any official information, industry reports recently hinted the planemaker has decided on a fully-composite fuselage for the XWB. Such a plane would sport similar "barrel" construction to the 787, though in a slightly-to-significantly larger airframe, depending on model (the A350 XWB is slated to pull double duty against both the 787, as well as Boeing's older 777.) The Qatar Airways order could be a validation of those reports.

"The A350XWB will equip Qatar Airways with the very latest generation and most modern fleet. In addition to unbeatable operating economics, the A350XWB shares the same cockpit commonality with other Airbus aircraft, especially the A380, so introducing the modernized fleet will be a simple and cost efficient step," Al-Baker said Wednesday.

Analyst Cunningham expressed cautious optimism the Qatar order could be the first of many for the new-and-improved A350 XWB.

"Boeing has been beating the pants off Airbus," Cunningham said. "They have effectively worked this aircraft over three times so this order does help to validate that work and it certainly is a big leg up. They will need lots more orders though before it can be considered a success."

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.qatarairways.com