Summary
- Airbus has gradually developed the A350, including introducing new winglets that offer aerodynamic improvements.
- The new winglets are taller and squarer in their curvature compared to the original design, complementing a new wing design for the A350. This results in a larger clamping load and lower overall resistance.
- From an official perspective, it is difficult to determine which A350s have the old or new winglets, but it is safe to say that most A350s now have the updated design.
Let’s say you’re sitting at an airport gate and looking at all the big jets parked on the apron. Since you’re already familiar with the basics of planespotting and aircraft identification, you see two Airbus A350s parked next to each other. As far as you know there are only the A350-900 and the A350-1000, but the jets you see are both -900. With no updated ‘Neo’ type variants yet to be announced, it seems strange that the two A350s in front of you have different winglets. Why might that be?
Constant improvements
Assembly of the very first Airbus A350 prototype was completed at the end of 2012. In 2013, the Airbus widebody aircraft made its first flight, while its first commercial service was in 2015 with Qatar Airways. So the guy is approaching a decade of service.
The major aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus regularly upgrade their jets without giving them new names or designations. In fact, Airbus has increased the maximum takeoff weight of some of its aircraft over the years. For example, later A330-900s have a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 251 tonnes, compared to 242 tonnes for earlier examples. You may also know that the first Boeing 787s were several tons heavier than current production models. Because these particular jets were difficult to sell, many called these Dreamliners the “terrible teenagers.”
Such important changes are of course noted on technical data sheets and legal documents. However, to the public, the model name is still listed simply as “Airbus A330-900” or “Boeing 787-8.” The same goes for older and newer Airbus A350s, as the European aircraft manufacturer made some interesting changes in 2017. One of these more noticeable adjustments was the jet’s winglets.
A gradual development
Back in 2017, aviation news site Leeham News & Analysis (LNA) exclusively revealed that Airbus was working on new winglets for the A350. On October 20, 2017, X user (formerly Twitter) known as Aviation Toulouse posted a photo of an updated A350 (embedded below). Shortly afterwards, LNA published new images and a detailed analysis of the new devices.
Months later, FlightGlobal reported that Airbus had introduced larger winglets that offered several aerodynamic improvements and “tremendous benefits.” Put simply, the new winglets expand the effective wingspan of the aircraft without increasing its geometric wingspan. In a conversation with A350 marketing director Francois Obe in 2018, it was noted that Airbus had planned to introduce a package of “incremental developments” in 2020, but that this process was accelerated.
“As the aircraft in service are better than we expected, we will be able to deliver some of them [the new developments] in 2018…We had to make sure the aircraft structure was good enough to withstand the extra weight and that is the case,” -Francois Obe, A350 Marketing Director, Airbus
So how do the old and new winglets differ from each other? Well, as highlighted by LNA, the new winglets are taller and also more “angular” in their curvature than the original design. This new design was not a standalone change. Rather, the new wing tip was intended to complement a new wing design for the A350. As highlighted and analyzed by LNA, the revised design of a new wing tip and wing results in a greater “tension load” resulting in lower overall drag.
Which airframes have old or new winglets?
As you can imagine, aircraft manufacturers tend to be cautious about some of these small improvements, foregoing a launch ceremony or even a media statement. From an official perspective, it is therefore a little more difficult to say which A350 was the first to be equipped with the new wing and winglets.
However, we can say that LNA noted in its 2017 article that the new wing and winglet would be “ready for the introduction of the first Singapore Airlines A350-900URL.” [in 2018].” It added that this update “will make its way to standard versions of the A350-900 and -1000.” A post on the popular forum Airliners.net echoes this, stating that the larger winglet was originally part of the A350 900ULR study was.
If this is the case, all A350s with Manufacturer Serial Number (MSN) 216 and above will feature the new winglet design. Conversely, MSNs 215 and below have the original design. The Planespotters.net production list shows that the Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900ULR with registration 9V-SGE is the airframe with MSN 216. Considering the fact that five years have passed since the first -900ULR was delivered and the A350 MSNs now number over 620, it is safe to say that most A350s feature the updated design. Therefore, it is perhaps more useful to list some of the early operators of this type, who undoubtedly operated airframes with older winglets. In order of first deliveries (lowest MSNs) these are:
- Qatar Airways
- Viet Nam Airlines
- Finnair
- Delta Airlines
- Singapore Airlines
- Cathay Pacific
- Ethiopian Airlines
- Thai Airways
- Lufthansa and more…
It might still be hard to tell…
For those with less planespotting experience, it might be difficult to tell whether an A350 has new or old winglets. After all, it’s not as drastic a change as the A330-300 to the A330-900. In fact, such a subtle difference is most noticeable when the old and new designs are placed side by side.
Photo: Matheus Obst / Shutterstock
But at the end of the day, the A350 is still a beautiful aircraft with beautiful winglets – whether old or new!
Did you know about this A350 design change? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment!
Sources: Leeham News & Analysis, FlightGlobal, Planespotters.net
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airbus
Storage code: AIR
Company type: Aircraft manufacturer
Date found: December 18, 1970
CEO: Guillaume Faury
Headquarters location: Toulouse, France
Main product lines: Airbus A220, Airbus A320, Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Airbus A350, Airbus A380
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