The world’s most modern commercial jetliner – the A350 XWB – kicked off the 2015 International Paris Air Show in style – “wowing” crowds a...
The world’s most modern commercial jetliner – the A350 XWB – kicked off the 2015 International Paris Air Show in style – “wowing” crowds at Le Bourget Airport just as it is impressing a growing number of passengers around the globe in commercial service.
Highlighting the A350 XWB’s major presence at the world’s oldest and biggest aerospace gathering, Airbus announced a new order and commitments covering 31 of these aircraft from two customers today. This includes a Letter of Intent with Garuda Indonesia for the purchase of 30 A350 XWB to expand its medium- and long-haul network aircraft, and an additional firm order for one A350-900 from U.S.-based Air Lease Corporation, which now has ordered 26 total A350 XWBs .
Meanwhile, all eyes were on Airbus’ cabin-equipped MSN002 developmental A350 XWB jetliner as it kicked off the Paris Air Show in style today by delivering France’s President François Hollande to Le Bourget Airport, before he formally opened the aerospace event. MSN002 – which is also performing flying displays at the show – is one of two A350 XWBs on the grounds of Le Bourget Airport this week, joined by a Qatar Airways A350-900 that is being displayed in the Airbus static exhibition area.
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| On the Paris Air Show’s opening day, the A350 XWB cockpit played host to Airbus President and CEO Fabrice Brégier and French President François Hollande (from left to right) |
For Qatar Airways, the jetliner is already exceeding expectations – having flown 100,000 passengers and counting, with an average daily utilisation of more than 11 hours.
The next step for Airbus will be to continue this smooth service entry as three new airlines are scheduled to join Qatar Airways in welcoming the A350 XWB to their fleets this year, bringing this highly-efficient jetliner to four total operators in four different regions.
Vietnam Airlines is set to receive the A350 XWB this summer, becoming the type’s first Asian operator. Finnair is slated to be the no. 1 operator in Europe, when it takes delivery of the A350 XWB in autumn, and TAM is to be the initial airline to receive the A350 XWB in the Americas with handover planned by year-end.
Overall, Airbus is on track to deliver approximately 15 of the highly-efficient aircraft during 2015 – keeping the company on pace to reach its ramp-up target of 10 aircraft produced per month by 2015.
The longer-fuselage A350-1000 version is also progressing well with production activities commencing in all Airbus plants – including the start of sub-assemblies –which keeps the A350-1000 on track per programme planning.
