| Thanksgiving's coming. |
| Because throwing good money after bad always works. |
"They really don't have a choice about doing it, if they want to be competitive with Boeing over the long term," said Phil Finnegan, an analyst at Teal Group, a consulting company in Fairfax, Va. "The big issue is, do they have the engineering talent to deal with the launch of the A350 as they're dealing with the problems of the A380?"
In July, Airbus said the A350 would cost $10 billion. The new concept would be made 50 percent from carbon fiber to reduce weight and save on fuel, airlines' biggest expense after labor, the sources said. Boeing's plane, known as the Dreamliner, is 50 percent carbon fiber by weight, and 20 percent more fuel efficient than planes it replaces, according to Boeing.
The new A350 XWB wouldn't enter service until at least 2013, a year later than previously planned and five years after the 787 is expected to fly.