Airbus A350 First Flight Set For Friday

Airbus has chosen Friday for the first flight of its A350, the European plane maker said.
The flight will take place at 10:00 am local time from Airbus's Toulouse headquarters in southwest France.
The first sortie of Europe's newest passenger plane follows seven years of development costing an estimated USD$15 billion.
It will set the stage for fierce competition for big jet orders just three days before the June 17-23 Paris Airshow.
Airbus hopes its first aircraft built mainly from lightweight carbon composites will reduce US rival Boeing's lead in the market for long haul, wide-bodied jets where it offers the 787 Dreamliner which uses similar technology.
Both planes mark the shift to a new generation of fuel-efficient, carbon-composite airliners designed to reduce airline fuel bills, which make up about a third of the industry's costs.
The world's dominant plane makers are competing for a segment of the market that Boeing estimated on Tuesday to be worth at least USD$1 trillion over the coming two decades.
French transport sources said on Monday preparations had been marred by an air traffic controllers' strike that forced Airbus to delay the historic flight to Friday.