Airbus is forecasting that airlines globally will need some 40,850 new widebody aircraft over the next 20 years, including 8,220 freighters, a segment where the European airframer claims it has won a significant market share since launching the A350F program in 2021. Airbus has delayed entry into service of the new twinjet from 2025 to 2026, but operators will receive an aircraft with a higher payload capability than initially planned. “We started marketing that platform at a 109-tonne payload,” said Florent Massou dit Labaquére, head of Airbus’s widebody program. “Now we have progressed so well on the design that we can already offer up to 2 tonnes more, [allowing for] more revenue for the airlines.” Another modification entails the main deck cargo door, which designers have expanded from its initial width of 165 inches to 175 inches and, according to Massou dit Labaquére, establishes it as the largest main deck cargo door available in the market.
Airbus has secured firm orders for 39 A350Fs, which it launched to challenge Boeing’s monopoly in the larger freighter segment. “We already gained a 42 percent market share versus the 777-8F. We are very proud of that,” he said. When considering the total widebody market, Airbus claims a 48 percent market share.
The Toulouse-based aircraft manufacturer has not ruled out an A330neo freighter variant, remarked head of marketing Stan Shparberg. “We have no precise discussions on this at the moment,” he said. “If we find enough market interest, we would be eager to do it. The A330neo is a platform that is capable of doing it. We built the A330ceoF,” he said, noting that there are “a lot” of A330 passenger-to-freighter conversions. The new-build A330-200F, however, did not sell particularly well.
Shparberg expressed confidence in the recovery of widebody travel and demand for widebody aircraft, asserting that at some point Airbus will need to “review production rates and increase those.” Last month, Airbus said it targets a monthly production rate of four for the A330 in 2024 and a rate of nine for the A350 at the end of 2025. “We see a very strong demand and this demand is shared across the globe,” he said. “Capacity is not there. We also have an opportunity with a competitive product, [Boeing’s 777X], being delayed.”
The Airbus executives dismissed the need to revisit plans to develop the A350-2000, the stretched variant of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 powered -1000, to close a capacity gap with the end of production of the A380 and accommodate the request from Emirates Airline president Tim Clark for a latest-generation aircraft that seats more passengers than what currently is on offer. “Today, the A350-1000 is our flagship product,” maintained Shparberg. “Do we need to close the gap? Do we need to have a double-decker flying? The A350-1000 is very capable of taking over from the A380s and the 777-300ERs and be the aircraft of choice for our customers.”
The A350 debuted at the Paris Air Show in 2013. It has collected firm orders for 967 aircraft from 54 customers and 535 have been delivered—including 69 A350-1000s—to 40 operators by the end of May.