Airbus CEO saysA350-XWB programme 'on track'

The A350-XWB aircraft is "on track" to be delivered by the end of this year, the Airbus chief executive said today.

"We are well on track to certify the aircraft and of course deliver it to Qatar Airways by the end of the year," said Fabrice Bregier, the president and chief executive of Airbus.

"We have started the assembly of the first series aircraft at the very end of last year so we believe this programme is on track," he said at a news briefing at the Singapore Airshow.

He said the aircraft has so far recorded more than 1,000 flight hours of assessment, including flights to Bolivia for high altitude flying and to Iqaluit, in northern Canada, for cold weather testing.

He said the aircraft will have to fly "little bit more than 2,500 hours" before it can be certified as airworthy by US and European authorities.

Airbus said it has received 814 orders so far from 30 countries for the A350-XWB, a long-range, wide-body plane which is slated to begin service with Qatar Airways in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The A350 flight-test aircraft dubbed MSN 3 will perform flying displays at the Singapore Airshow this week.

Airbus and rival US-based Boeing are among the key participants at Asia's biggest aerospace and defence show.