TOULOUSE, France - Qatar Airways’ first A350 XWB in full airline livery has successfully completed its maiden flight over the Airbus construction facility in Toulouse, France.
The airline, which is the global launch customer for the Airbus A350, is scheduled to take delivery of its first A350-900 before the end of the year.
Following the successful inaugural flight, Qatar’s A350 XWB is now continuing its production phase, including cabin completion and further ground and flight tests, before final delivery.
Qatar Airways has 80 A350s on order, including 43 A350-900 and 37 of the larger A350-1000 models.
“We are delighted to see the new A350 taking to the skies in our livery,” said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker. “The A350 will be a very valuable addition to our fleet, and thanks to its extra width, we will be able to offer our passengers even greater comfort and continue to raise the benchmark for service in the sky.”
With a cross-section of 220 inches from armrest to armrest, the A350’s cabin provides the widest seats in its category, offering its passengers a unique experience of space and comfort.
The A350 XWB is Airbus’ all-new mid-size long range product line and the newest member of Airbus' leading widebody family, and offers a combination of enhanced passenger comfort and technological innovation.
Built hand-in-hand with its customers, the A350 XWB will set new standards in terms of passenger experience, operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 17 years of operation, to the point where today it is flying a modern fleet of 137 aircraft to 144 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.
For image:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/qatarairways/sets/72157648445689948/
Notes to Editors:
Qatar Airways, the national carrier of the State of Qatar, is one of the fastest growing airlines operating one of the youngest fleets in the world. Now in its 17th year of operations, Qatar Airways has a modern fleet of 135 aircraft flying to 144 key business and leisure destinations across six continents.
Qatar Airways celebrates its one year anniversary, in October 2014, of joining the oneworld global alliance. The award-winning alliance was named the World’s Best Airline Alliance 2014 by Skytrax for the second year running this year.
Qatar Airways was the first Gulf carrier to join a global airline alliance, enabling its passengers to benefit from almost 1,000 airports in more than 150 countries, with 14,250 daily departures.
At the Farnborough Air Show, the airline placed an order for 100 Boeing 777X aircraft, taking Qatar Airways’ orders to more than 340 aircraft with a value of US $70 billion.
For more information, visit our homepage www.qatarairways.com or our sites on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and YouTube.
For Qatar Airways corporate images, please click here: http://www.qatarairways.com/corporateimages
For further information contact:
Qatar Airways Group, Corporate Communications Department
Tel: +974 44302072, Fax: +974 44302069
Website: www.qatarairways.com