The A350XWB widebody aircraft project is the first project to combine the keel beam and the rear lower shell into a single important component. This huge keel beam is 70% made of composite material and is 16.5 meters long, 4.3 meters wide and weighs 1.2 tons. It is assembled from 10,000 fasteners and 2000 parts. The keel beam makes the fuselage more structurally consistent at the landing gear.
Following the delivery of the first A350XWB central wing box to the Airbus’s Saint-Nazaire plant on August 8, the Airbus Nantes factory delivered another important A350XWB part, the A350XWB keel beam. The special transporter carrying the keel beam is more than 25 meters long and runs from the Nantes factory to the Loire River and is then transported by barge to the Airbus’s Saint-Nazaire plant.