Airbus shows off new A350 XWB

Airbus has showed off its new A350 XWB, rolling out its first flyable plane on Monday fresh from the paintshop in company livery.

The aircraft is the first in a family of super efficient passenger planes Airbus designed to go head-to-head against rival Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and 777s.

"XWB" means "extra wide body." There are three members in the A350 family: the A350-800, the A350-900 and the A350-1000, which seat 270, 314 and 350 passengers respectively, in three-class seating.

The largest of the three lightweight carbon-composite aircraft, the A350-1000, is 73.88 meters long and has a range of approximately 8,400 nautical miles, or 15,600 kilometers. The catalog price is US$320.6 million. As of March 31, there were 110 orders for the A350-1000 among a total of 616 orders from 34 customers. Most orders, 414, have been for the A350-900.

The plane unveiled on Monday at Airbus HQ in Toulouse, France is the latest milestone in what has been a turbulent production history for the A350.

Critics have said the A350 program -- first launched in 2007 -- was a poorly-designed, hasty response to Boeing's 787.

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