NOTE: This topic has been approved by moderators. Do not flag it for closure, nor redirect me to this post. Things have changed.
The first A350-1000 prototype departing Tianjin Bihnai in May 2020. Photo by yiran on Jetphotos.
Introduction
“Recognised as the airline industry’s large widebody aircraft of reference, the A350-1000 comfortably accommodates from 350 to 410 passengers in a standard three-class configuration, with 40% more area for premium-category seating.” - Airbus website
The Airbus A350-1000 is the largest and heaviest member of the popular A350XWB family of widebody aircraft. It is also the largest and heaviest aircraft currently in production by Airbus.
This aircraft has had a rather unfortunate history in Infinite Flight, with its development never having been officially confirmed, as well as requests for it being closed. Until now.
Development
The slowing sales of the 767 prompted Boeing to develop its successor. Initially, Boeing designed the Sonic Cruiser, an aircraft capable of cruising 15 to 20% faster than a typical airliner, while being about as efficient as twin-engine widebodies of the time. However, with the downturn in air travel following the September 11 attacks, as well as low interest by airlines, the project was cancelled.
Based on the technology originally developed for the Sonic Cruiser, Boeing started designing a new 767 replacement. This time, instead of burning as much fuel and flying 15-20% faster, the new aircraft would burn 20% less fuel and fly as fast as a 767. Hence, the 7E7 project was born. Unlike the previous attempt, airlines were extremely interested in this new aircraft, with it rapidly scoring dozens of orders. Despite the 7E7’s success, Airbus believed that the aircraft was a “mere A330 competitor”, prompting some airlines to directly ask the manufacturer to develop a proper response to the new Boeing, threatening to switch sides if nothing was done.
Airbus, however was still adamant that the 7E7 (later renamed to 787 Dreamliner) was a threat to the A330, therefore, their initial response was the A330-200Lite, an A330-200 with better aerodynamics and 787-like engines (essentially an A330-800 with much shorter range ten years before the launch of the A330neo program we know today), a project which was subsequently cancelled as Boeing’s offering continued to rack up more orders. In late 2004, Airbus lauched the original A350, which was essentially just another A330neo. While it gathered the interest of some airlines, others were expecting better from the manufacturer. Among the customers that were disappointed with this offering were GECAS and ILFC, two of the biggest aircraft lessors worldwide, claiming Airbus would lose marketshare and criticizing the manufacturer publicly for this project. Singapore Airlines was no happier than the two lessors, stating “having gone through the trouble of designing a new wing, tail,” and “cockpit,” Airbus “should have gone the whole hog and designed a new fuselage.” The message was clear, and the project was abandoned.
During the 2006 Farnborough Air Show, Airbus finally gave in to customer pressure and announced the A350XWB family, a completely cleansheet design comprised of three variants: The A350-800, the A350-900, and the star of this topic, the A350-1000. Notably, the aircraft grew in size, with the -800 aimed to compete with the 787-9, while the -900 and -1000 were designed to replace the A340, as well as compete with the 777. However, Airbus thought the 787 was way too ahead of its time, initially opting to use composite materials only on important parts of the airframe. Following customer criticism, this was changed in September 2007, when Airbus decided to make the entire fuselage of the A350 out of composites, just like the 787 (however, still using a more conventional production method). Together with the A380 delays, as well as the EADS restructuring, this delayed the A350’s introduction.
Despite hurdles in the development of the family, in the 2011 Paris Air Show, Airbus announced improvements to the A350-1000, aimed at making it a better competitor to the 777-300ER, of which the most significant was a redesigned engine, whose maximum thrust was increased from 93,000lbf to 97,000lbf. This was achieved through a scaled up core and the introduction of technologies from Rolls-Royce’s Advance3 program, resulting in an aircraft capable of carrying an extra 4.5 tons of payload or flying an extra 400nm.
Flight testing and entry into service
Assembly of the first A350-1000 prototype began in September 2015 and was completed in April 2016. The aircraft took its first flight on the 24th of November 2016, starting its flight test campaign.
After over 1500 hours of flight testing, the aircraft was granted its type certificate by EASA on the 21st of November 2017. Qatar Airways was the launch customer for the variant, starting operations in February 2018. Unlike the A350-900, the larger variant performed either as expected or better than expected in all parameters as soon as it entered service.
As of the 30th of June 2024, the A350-1000 has 299 orders across 20 customers, of which 6 don’t have the A350-900 in their future plans. As of the same time period, 85 aircraft have been delivered to 8 customers, of which 3 don’t expect to operate the smaller A350-900.
Further improvements
As with most of their aircraft, Airbus has, and still is continuously improving on the A350-1000. The aircraft was initially offered with an MTOW of 308 tons. Over the years, that was increased to 311 tons, 316 tons, 319 tons (based off Qantas’ Project Sunrise request), and, in October 2023, 322 tons. In November 2019, the aircraft’s exits were changed to Type-A+ doors, allowing an increase in maximum capacity from 440 passengers to 480. The first 480-seat A350-1000 was delivered to French Bee in December 2021.
The A350-1000 was also chosen as the basis for the upcoming A350F (unlike the initial studies for a freighter A350, which would be based off the A350-900), featuring a fuselage shortened by roughly 3m. Interestingly, Airbus still claims the MTOW of this variant to be 319 tons, despite the latest increase in MTOW to 322 tons for the A350-1000.
One notable improvement that hasn’t yet arrived for the -1000, however, are the redesigned taller sharklets, developed initially for the A350-900ULR, now standardized for all new A350-900s. All A350-1000s built to this day still feature the original shorter sharklet.
Not just a stretched A350-900
On the surface, the A350-1000 may seem like a mere stretch of the A350-900. However, there is more to that story.
The A350-1000 is equipped with a pair of Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines. While not as much of a leap as the second generation of GE90s were compared to the first, these engines differ from the Trent XWB-84 engines that power the smaller -900 by featuring a larger core and improvements developed in Rolls-Royce’s Advance3 program, increasing the maximum thrust of the A350-1000’s engines from the originally planned 93,000lbf to 97,000lbf, a huge increase from the 84,000lbf generated by each of the A350-900’s engines.
The much heavier airframe meant that the landing gear of the A350-900 wouldn’t be able to withstand all of the weight over it. Therefore, Airbus had to develop a new “big foot” main landing gear for the -1000, with six wheels per leg instead of four. This much larger landing gear also required an equally larger compartment to stow it.
The extra weight also meant that performance, especially range, could be negatively affected. To address this issue, Airbus had to tweak the wing of the aircraft, increasing its area by 22.3m² through a 30cm extension of the inboard sections of the fixed trailing edge.
Specifications
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Flight deck crew: Two
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Typical seating: 350-410 passengers
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Exit limit: 480 passengers
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Cargo capacity: 44 LD3 containers or 14 pallets
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Water volume: 264m³ (9,323 cu ft)
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Length: 73.79m (242.1 ft)
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Wingspan: 64.75m (212.43 ft)
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Wing sweep: 31.9º
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Wing area: 464.3m² (4,998 sq ft)
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Aspect ratio: 9.03
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Height: 17.08m (56 ft)
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Fuselage: 5.96m (19.6 ft) width by 6.09 (19.98 ft) height
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Cabin width: 5.61m (18.42 ft) (18-inch 9-abreast seating); 5.71m (18.75 ft) (16.8-inch 10-abreast seating)
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Track: 10.73m (35.2 ft)
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Wheelbase: 32.48m (106.56 ft)
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Maximum payload: 67.3t (148,000 lb)
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Fuel capacity: 124.65t (274,800 lb); 158.8m³ (42,000 US gal)
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Maximum take off weight: 322t (710,000 lb)
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Maximum landing weight: 236t (520,000 lb)
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Operating empty weight: 155t (342,000 lb)
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Manufacturer empty weight: 129t (284,000 lb)
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Engines: 2x Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97; 97,000lbf (431.5kN) maximum thrust (SL, ISA)
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Typical cruise speed: Mach 0.85
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Maximum cruise speed: Mach 0.89
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Typical range: 8,900nm (16,500km; 10,200mi)
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Service ceiling: 41,450ft (12,630m)
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ICAO designation: A35K
References
Why should the A350-1000 be added in Infinite Flight?
The A350-1000 plays a key role in supplying the demand for large, long-range widebody aircraft in the present day. While significantly less popular than the smaller A350-900, that has largely to do with the world shifting from a hub-and-spoke model of air travel to a point-to-point one, which calls for smaller and more efficient aircraft. However, the big hubs are still crowded and slot-restricted, forcing airlines to send their biggest aircraft types to cope with demand.
Being significantly more efficient than any other large aircraft in service, and with the 777x still months away from entering service, the A350-1000 currently stands as the most efficient option to fill in this gap, as well as being the only one currently in service and in production.
However, a flight simulator isn’t real life, and the community’s desires may be significantly different from the airline’s necessities. Many people enjoy recreating flights they’ve been on, and, with the market share of the largest A350 slowly growing, so are the number of flights operated by the type, which means a higher chance that an Infinite Flight user gets to try out an A350-1000 and is forced to use an alternative aircraft (if it exists) to recreate it in-app.
In addition, people generally seem to like flying bigger and heavier widebody jets more than a little Cessna, a turboprop, military aircraft, or even a narrowbody jet. Paired with how much some people love the A350, the addition -1000 would kill two birds with one stone, satisfying the desires of the A350 fans, as well as giving another option of large widebody aircraft.
As it stands, there are essentially three ways the A350-1000 could be added in Infinite Flight:
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Basing it off the current A350-900: This is the least appealing option in my opinion, as the A350-900 lacks a few features, not to mention the well-known issue of its cockpit windows.
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Developing it from scratch: My personal favourite option in case demand for this aircraft is extremely high, this would see the A350-1000 developed reusing as little as possible from the A350-900 (for example, screen displays could potentially be reused in this scenario). This would be an interesting option, as the A350-1000 would be significantly different than the -900. The reason I believe this should be considered is because that a very similar situation (and arguably a much more extreme version of it) has been present in Infinite Flight for over 3 years. The A330 recieved a major rework in mid-2021, however that only applied to the A330-300 (as well as the addition of the A330-900). The A330-200F, arguably a much less popular aircraft than either of the A350s, remains in its 2013/2019 frankenstein form, with no plans to be either reworked or removed as far as we know.
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Basing it off a reworked A350-900: This is the ideal option, as it would not only add the A350-1000, but also fix the issues present on the A350-900, as well as making these two aircraft consistent with each other (like the 777 and E-Jets). The downside, however, is that an A350-900 rework is unlikely to come for a very long time, though that shouldn’t be much of an issue in case demand for the type isn’t as high as some might expect.
Final remarks
After years of hopelessness on the A350-1000 addition, with all previous topics being closed and directed to one very specific reply, which is as old as the A350-900 in Infinite Flight, I would like to give an A350-1000-sized thank you to the moderation team for finally letting this request happen. A lot of things have changed in the past 5 years, not only in Infinite Flight, but also in the real world, and especially regarding the A350-1000.
When the A350-900 was released in Infinite Flight, it was was nearing 5 years of revenue service with many airlines across the world, meaning plenty of data was available to create an accurate flight model for it in Infinite Flight. The A350-1000, however, was in commercial service for less than 2 years, and with few airframes in operation. Fast forward to 2024, and the A350-1000 finds itself in a similar situation as the A350-900 was in 2019: over 6 years of service and a decent number of airframes operating worldwide, with many more to come, meaning it’s likely there’s plenty of data available to accurately develop its flight model.
Although this request isn’t in any way a guarantee the A350-1000 is coming soon, it’s certainly a major step in the process of adding it to Infinite Flight, by being a great way to know how high demand for this aircraft actually is.
