Industry Airbus sends A350-1000 on demonstration tour

MSN065, which is registered as F-WLXV, will be on tour for about three weeks. Overall, the A350-1000 will head to 12 destinations in 10 countries and will fly over 30,000 nautical miles, which equals 55,500 kilometres.

The tours' reason is to demonstrate the aircrafts´ features to airlines. Airbus hopes to seal additional orders for its longhaul aircraft. MSN065 is one of three A350-1000 testbeds and is equipped with a fully functional three-class cabin, featuring 40 business class seats, 36 economy plus seats and 219 economy class seats.

It is planned, that the aircraft will stop at Doha, Muscat, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, Hanoi, Singapore, Bangkok, Sydney, Auckland, Tokyo and Manila. At Singapore, MSN065 will be on static display at the Singapore Airshow 2018.

Airbus´ demonstration tour comes right after a year-long flight test campaign, which was successfully concluded by reaching the type certification by the EASA and FAA in November 2017. To date, 11 customers from five continents have ordered 169 A350-1000s in total.

According to Airbus, the A350-1000 shows a high level of similarity to the A350-900, with 95% common system parts. In a 3-class configuration, the A350-1000 can seat 40 more passengers than the A350-900 and is equipped with modified wing trailing-edges and a six-wheel main landing gear. Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines will power the aircraft.

In the coming weeks, Qatar Airways is expected to take delivery of the very first A350-1000 in Toulouse, France.