Airbus sells another 11 aircraft, bringing its total at Farnborough thus far to 15 orders

FARNBOROUGH, England, 10 July 2012. Hong Kong-based air carrier Cathay Pacific Airways is ordering 10 Airbus A350-1000 widebody passenger jets from European aircraft manufacturer Airbus in Toulouse, France. Airbus made the announcement today at the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, England.

The Cathay Pacific deal makes a total of 15 aircraft that Airbus has sold at Farnborough through mid-day Tuesday. Business transactions at the show should extend through the rest of today and extend into Wednesday and Thursday.

Also on Tuesday Airbus took an order for one Airbus A319 narrow-body jetliner with fuel-saving sharklet wingtips from Drukair, the flag carrier of the Eastern Himalayan mountain Kingdom of Bhutan, which takes advantage of the special wingtips to achieve the performance necessary for routine operations at extremely high altitudes. Drukair also ordered another sharklet-equipped A319 back in February.

On Monday Airbus took an order for four A320neo aircraft from Israeli carrier Arikas Israeli Airlines based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

As part of Tuesday's deal with Cathay Pacific, the Hong Kong carrier not only ordered 10 A350-1000 aircraft, but also will convert 16 of its existing orders from Airbus for the A350-900 to the larger A350-1000.

The A350-1000 is the largest version of the Airbus A350 XWB family and typically seats 350 passengers in a three class layout. The aircraft has a range of 8,400 nautical miles, which Cathay Pacific will put to good use on high-density routes, including its longest non-stop flights to Europe and North America.

The A350-1000 jumbo twinjet is powered by the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine. The A350 XWB, short for xtra wide-body, has three versions seating between 270 and 350 passengers in typical three-class layouts. The new-design aircraft is scheduled to enter service in 2014.

The Airbus A319, which Drukair is buying, is a slightly smaller version of the Airbus A320 single-aisle jetliner. The aircraft seats 124 passengers and has a range to 3,740 nautical miles. The aircraft also is available with 156 seats for low-cost airlines. The aircraft has a digital cabin management system to control interior lighting, pre-recorded messages, and emergency evacuation signalling.

The A319 also has required navigation precision-authorization required (RNP-AR) procedures combined with required time of arrival (RTA) avionics, which eliminates the need for holds during a flight, and enables a continuous-descent approach. The aircraft also has fly-by-wire flight controls.

Drukair will deploy the sharklet-equipped Airbus A319 to increase capacity on existing regional routes as well as to open up new services to Singapore and Hong Kong.

Sharklets have been specially designed for the Airbus A320 Family to reduce fuel burn by as much as 3.5 percent, corresponding to an annual CO2 reduction of around 700 tonnes per aircraft, Airbus officials say. The wingtip devices also will enhance the aircraft’s performance, Airbus officials say.

For more information contact Airbus online at www.airbus.com, or the Farnborough International Airshow at www.farnborough.com. Also follow Military & Aerospace Electronics and Avionics Intelligence daily Farnborough show coverage online at www.militaryaerospace.com/farnborough-report.

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