Amanda Jacob

A350 XWB tail gets its livery

News
The vertical tail plane of the first A350 XWB that will fly has come out of the paint hall in Toulouse sporting the well-known Airbus blue and white livery.
The vertical tail plane of the first A350 XWB that will fly has come out of the paint hall in Toulouse sporting the well-known Airbus blue and white livery.

The 10 m tall composite vertical tail plane is produced, as for all Airbus aircraft, at Airbus’ Stade site in Germany.

Airbus says the vertical tail plane is joined to the fuselage using an innovative, lighter connection that is also more aerodynamic.

The external livery of the A350 XWB, including the vertical tail plane, is painted with an environmentally friendly, chromate free primer paint. In addition, Airbus will use a new base coat/clear coat system which requires less paint and less solvent.

The A350 XWB structure is 53% composite-based, including major elements such as wings and fuselage. (See Airbus takes on Boeing with composite A350 XWB.)

The aircraft is scheduled to enter service in the second half of 2014.