Airbus A350 ‘untainted by grounded Dreamliners’

PARIS: Problems which have grounded all Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft will not affect programs by EADS, the parent company of Airbus which is developing its A350 airliner, EADS director of strategy Marwan Lahoud said.
Lahoud, questioned on Radio Classique about possible knock-on effects of Dreamliner problems, said that “they will not have an impact on our programs” and that the first examples of the Airbus A350 long-range airliner would be made as planned at the end of 2014.
The 50 Boeing 787 Dreamliners in service around the world have been grounded since January 16 on instructions from the US FAA aviation regulator after one of the aircraft had to make an emergency landing because of an electrical fault.
Lahoud said that this blow to Boeing, the main rival for Airbus in the global market for passenger aircraft, should not delay the certification process for the A350.
“I don’t see where this idea comes from. These are independent certification processes. The certification of an aircraft corresponds to that particular aircraft.”
He insisted: “There is no link between the steps for certification of an aircraft and those for another one.”
Lahoud said that the problems hitting the Dreamliner were “not good news for us (EADS and Airbus), they are not bad news either.”
He said: “We are following (the matter) very closely, we will follow the recommendations of the certification authorities.”
Lahoud said that if significant issues to emerge from the Dreamliner case could be used beneficially by EADS and Airbus, “then we will benefit from that,” and added “we will do what is necessary so as not to have the same problems for the A350.”
An executive at EADS, who declined to be identified, had told AFP earlier that EADS was concerned that the FAA and its European counterpart the European Aviation Safety Agency might tighten up the procedures for testing and certifying new aircraft, including the A350.