Airbus confirms 2-year delay of two A350 models

Airbus said in Paris on Saturday that it will delay the delivery of two variants of its new A350 jet by two years.

The most significant shift is the postponement of the largest model so Rolls-Royce can provide a more powerful engine. The A350-1000, which will compete against Boeing's current star airliner, the 777-300ER, won't be delivered until mid-2017.

The smallest model, the A350-800, now will be delivered in mid-2016. The competing Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliners will be delivered this year and in 2013, respectively.

Airbus executives sought to put a positive spin on the news.

The delays are not caused by bungling or production glitches, Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus parent company EADS, said at a news conference.

The A350 "is the best-managed program at Airbus by far ... the program is under control," he said. Gallois attributed the stretched-out schedule "not to delays but to improvements in the program."

Airbus sales chief John Leahy said the delay on the larger A350-1000 will give Rolls-Royce, now the exclusive engine supplier for the A350, time to develop a version of the Trent engine with an additional 4,000 pounds of thrust. That will increase the jet's payload capacity by 4.5 tons and add 400 nautical miles in range.

The jet also will need significant wing and landing-gear changes.

That move is no surprise. Boeing has contended for the past year the A350-1000 wouldn't perform as advertised without a new engine and wing.

Even with the extra range, Leahy conceded, the plane won't make it all the way from Dubai to Los Angeles with a full load, a specification the growing Middle Eastern carrier Emirates was demanding.

Nevertheless, Leahy said, the revised design means "the A350-1000 is now in a class of its own."

On paper, the changes will make the A350 a much more formidable competitor to the current 777. However, Boeing has an extra two years to decide what it will do to the 777 to meet that challenge.

Airbus Chief Operating Officer Fabrice Bregier said the changes will add an extra $9 million to the jet's $147 million list price.

Bregier explained that the smaller A350-800 model is being delayed for another reason: Some of the demand for it has melted away as initial customers decided they wanted to switch to the bigger A350-900, which remains on schedule for 2013.

"The first customers of the A350-800 have decided to migrate to the -900," he said. "We have listened to the market."

So far, 42 orders have converted from -800s to -900s.

Asked how airlines had reacted to the news, Leahy said most customers weren't upset because they had been pushing Airbus to make the A350-1000 bigger and have been wanting to make the switch from the -800 to the -900.

"Nobody is pounding the table saying, 'You are breaking my contract,' " Leahy said.

But Bregier admitted that discussions with existing customers as to whether they should pay more for the extra capability in the revised A350-1000 will be subject to delicate negotiation.

"We'll have to discuss with them," Bregier said. "This is confidential."

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com