A350 / A350XWB

[scon]

Obviously over the last year or two we have been hearing a lot about the A350 and lately the A350XWB (xtra wide body) however I was wondering what is the difference, and I don't necessarily mean performance. What I mean is, is the A350XWB a new name for the A350 or are they two separate aircraft.

At least Boeing aircraft you can understand

[Zöltuger]

The A350 will have a fuselage cross-section wider than the original A350 (see History) which used the existing Airbus widebody standard. Airbus refers to this as "XWB" or "Xtra Wide Body" and states that from the point of view of a seated passenger, the cabin is 5 inches wider at eye level than the competing Boeing 787. The 777's fuselage is 10 inches wider than the XWB's, allowing an extra passenger seat in each row.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A350

quite interesting actually, sounds like they made it wider than the 787 to plug a hole in the market.
just on that, Boeing are going to build the first 787 very soon, and have it flying by august... exciting times

[Jimmy]

thought that picture in the article there was a 787 for a minute, but no its a 350

I was reading an interesting article in the computer pilot magazine about the differances between airbus and boeing, when looking at the finer aspects you really could suspect a world wide conspricy between enginers to mkake aircraft as alike as possible Certainly helps airlines when it comes to training and moving pilots from one ac to anothor.

787, boeing's replacement for the 767, go the 787!!

[Zöltuger]

actually if you compare airbus and boeing aircraft, you'll find that they're designed not to be the same, but to fill the gap- A350 is a good example, because airbus are filling a gap between the 787 and the 777 which boeing don't provide for. ditto the 747-8 sits between the 744 and the A380

[JonARNZ]

Hmm, its just that airbus doesnt make very good gap filler, go with Selleys!