AIRWAYS FEATURE
5 The ‘ thrust bump ’ switch on the thrust levers granting additional take-off thrust .
6 The XLR ’ s rear center tank increases its fuel capacity by more than 3,400 gallons but decreases the space for baggage in the rear hold . // ADRIAN NOWAKOWSKI / AIRWAYS the airline ’ s A350-900XWB . In an interview with Airways , Da Costa explained that the plane ’ s origins are rooted in Airbus ’ s LR variant , designed to replace the Boeing 757 .
The Boeing plane , introduced in 1983 , “ had pretty much the same range , which allowed it to fly from the US East Coast to Western Europe ,” he said . “ And that ’ s exactly what the LR does today . Nevertheless , customers expressed interest in going from Western Europe deeper into the US , and vice versa from the East Coast to a bit further away in Western Europe .
“ We started looking into solutions to enable the extra
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44 AIRWAYS MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2025 www . airwaysmag . com