Airbus partner Aerolia has delivered the first A350 XWB nose section to Airbus’s facility in St Nazaire, France.

The A350 XWB nose section comprises three main subassemblies: the cockpit plus upper and lower forward fuselage parts, which incorporate door one and the nose landing gear bay.

The A350 XWB nose section is made of 40% composites, 55% aluminum/aluminum-lithium and 5% titanium.

Once assembled and equipped, the nose section will be joined to the forward fuselage to form the A350 XWB front fuselage, Airbus said.

Aerolia was responsible for designing the three subassemblies of the nose fuselage, which comprises of the metallic parts, Section 11 and the nose landing gear bay and for the composite components, the aircraft’s lower shell and section 12 fitted with the passenger door frames.

Aerolia A350 programme head Guillaume Vuillermoz said, "A total of €220m has been invested by our company across its three sites in France to respect our commitments towards Airbus, to respect deadlines and to deliver this first A350 XWB nose fuselage."