A350WXB Gets EADS Board Approval:UPDATE

It's a go, according to Business Week....stay tuned for the WTO ruckus, part deux.

UPDATE:

The picture's a little more interesting but as I haven't run the numbers or considered their implications I'm not ready to go on the record.

However there are some rumblings. It's rumored that a press conference is set for Monday, wherein The Maginot Line is going to announce 'orders'. That should prove interesting to see the usual suspects trotted out for the official perpwalk and lineup.

The retrograde construction method The Maginot Line plans to use (CFRP panels over structure with fasteners and adhesives) we've already talked about. I think it's a major mistake, and it is also an idea that will be shelved for an integrated fuselage because they will have to. The Maginot Line doesn't trust the technology right now but when the 787 starts flying in 2007, the handwriting will be on the wall for anything less than a full tilt integral method of construction. At that point, The Maginot Line will be just that much farther behind the power curve development wise.

The preliminary numbers being floated suggest that the A350WXB will really be aimed at the B777 rather than the B787. That's going to be one analysis we will run here when some 'specifications' start being released.

Of course, all this thinking is no doubt occurring to the folks at The Prussian Airplane Company. I'd be damned surprised if they did not have the replacement for the 777 in the works even as we speak. And, in fact, Richard Aboulafia said as much back in August of this year.

This could be the start of something big, as the tune goes.