Airbus Seeks Extended Warm Reception

So far, of course, the point-to-point aircraft appears to be exactly what customers want. Airlines have placed nearly 500 orders for Boeing's 787, while Airbus' original model of the A350 has lured just 100 orders.

Now Airbus is redesigning the plane. The new model, the A350XWB (for extra-wide body) will be built largely of lightweight composite materials and will more closely match the 787. "It became clear that the 787 was going to be a very good airplane and that Airbus was going to get slammed if they went with the original A350," says Dan Kasper, managing director of consulting firm LECG. "But I don't have any doubt that they can design an airplane that will be a lot more competitive with the 787."

Competing for Customers

Kasper says the A380 flight proves that Airbus "can take on a big engineering and production challenge, and on the engineering side they can solve it." But for the benefit to spill over, he says, carriers must be convinced that Airbus can meet a delivery schedule.

A key battleground is US Airways(LCC Quote), where executives say they will decide whether to order the 787 or the A350 in the next few weeks. US Airways had an order for 20 A350s, but the redesigned A350XWB "is not the plane we ordered," CFO Derek Kerr told reporters two weeks ago. As a result, the airline is re-evaluating its order. The 787 could be delivered "a couple of years sooner," Kerr said. He declined to say whether the A350 would be cheaper.