Despite a previously announced delay to the second half of 2027 for entry into service, the cargo twinjet’s production has achieved multiple key manufacturing milestones this year, with wings and fuselage sections now ready for assembly.
Airbus has continued to make progress with the assembly of the first A350 freighter following the delivery of the rear fuselage last week.
In a LinkedIn post, Airbus vice president, head of component delivery for the A350, Desbordes Aurelia, said that the first fully equipped aft section had left the hangar in Hamburg.
She described the delivery as an “incredible milestone”.
Airbus senior vice president of marketing Joost van der Heijden added that the entire fuselage had now been delivered to Toulouse, the final assembly line for the cargo twinjet (MSN700).
”Coming from multiple Airbus sites in France and Germany, the front, centre and rear sections of the fuselage have moved in with the wings and are now getting ready to be assembled in the coming weeks.”
He added that more parts would be transported to the site for final assembly in the next few weeks.
The central fuselage sections 15-21 as well as the forward sections 11-14 were delivered in August.
These sections were produced by the facility at Montoir-de-Bretagne – formerly known as Saint-Nazaire.
Airbus supplies these sections through its Airbus Atlantic aerostructures division. The Montoir-de-Bretagne site assembles and equips all centre and forward A350 fuselages.
Despite announcing in February that it had pushed back the entry-into-service date of the A350F to the second half of 2027, Airbus has hit some key production milestones this year.
The first section 19, which is the aerostructure located aft of the main fuselage barrel and interfaces with the tail of the aircraft, was delivered in March.
In April, the first forward fuselage section of the aircraft was equipped with essential systems, and in May the company completed manufacturing the first set of A350F wings.
In July, Airbus completed manufacturing the first horizontal stabiliser (HTP) for the A350 freighter at its plants in Spain.
