Airbus starts assembling first A350 XWB - by Aubrey Cohen

Airbus has started final assembly of its composite answer to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, the European plane maker announced Thursday.

The A350 XWB uses composite panels, rather than the barrel design of the 787. It is scheduled to enter service in 2014, pushed back from an original plan of mid 2013.

Interior new Airbus 350

Final assembly starts with joining the 65-foot-long center fuselage with the 69-foot front fuselage at Airbus' final assembly line in Toulouse, France. The center fuselage arived from Airbus' St Nazaire, France, facility on Wednesday. The front fuselage arrived from St Nazaire on Dec. 23.

The aft fuselage is scheduled for delivery from Hamburg, Germany, in the coming weeks, followed by the wings, from Airbus' wing assembly site in Broughton, U.K.

Airbus plans to use the first airframe for static testing, which subjects the airplane to stresses beyond the most-extreme it's expected to encounter in service. The company expects to start assembling of the first flying A350 this summer. Airbus has orders for 555 A350s.

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