The growth of the Airbus A350 aircraft program, expected to drive the future of the commercial widebody fleet alongside its Boeing 787 competitor, has stalled since the out- break of the COVID-19 crisis 2.5 years ago. Both programs retain an even market share split, but so far this year the widebody market remains depressed, and recovery to pre-crisis levels is still expected to be some time off. Airbus is projecting that any such recovery lies between 2023 and 2025 for the segment. Despite a challenging two years for the industry, which saw Airbus suspend production of the A350 at the height of the pandemic in 2020, the OEM has plans to slowly ramp up production volumes. The airframer is reportedly looking to increase production of its A350 family of aircraft from around five per month to six by the end of 2023-a ramp-up delayed from its original date of the autumn of 2022, given the combined impact of sanctions on Russia and an ongoing legal dispute with prominent A350 customer Qatar Airways. The fortunes of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB have been aligned with those of the aircraft for which it is the sole engine option since it entered service in 2014. Aviation Week's Commercial Fleet & MRO Forecast data indicates that there are 1,024 Trent XWB units in service this year, comprising XWB-84K engines on the A350-900 and the XWB-97K on the A350-1000.
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