http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...mp;refer=europe

Airbus Says A350 On Course for First Delivery in 2013 (Update2)
By Andrea RothmanJan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Airbus SAS said deliveries of its A350 widebody jetliner will begin on schedule in mid-2013 as the world’s biggest maker of commercial aircraft seeks to compete with Boeing Co.’s delayed 787 Dreamliner.

The 300-seat A350-900 model, the first version slated for delivery, had a design freeze at the end of December, allowing Airbus to begin investing in the industrial phase of development, Chief Operating Officer Fabrice Bregier said today in a briefing near the A350 assembly plant in Toulouse, France.

Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders said the A350 schedule is also less likely to be disrupted because the plane employs "evolutionary, not revolutionary technology." While some of the Boeing 787's problems came from joining whole barrel sections made from composites rather than the traditional aluminum, Airbus is taking a more conservative approach in building the A350 from composite panels laid over a skeleton.