Qatar Airways Announces Delivery Date for First Customer A350 XWB

Qatar Airways is officially to take delivery on Saturday, December 13 of the first of 80 Airbus A350 XWB widebodies it has on order.

Doha-based Qatar Airways will be the first customer to take delivery of an Airbus A350 XWB. Airbus will hand over the milestone A350-900 to the carrier at the manufacturer’s widebody final-assembly and delivery facility at Toulouse Blagnac Airport.

The first Airbus A350-900 for launch customer Qatar Airways completed its maiden flight on October 16, 2014. The flight was the first time an A350 XWB configured for a customer had flown

Qatar Airways will operate its first commercial service with the Airbus A350-900 on the Doha-Frankfurt route in January, according to the airline.

“The delivery of our first A350 XWB aircraft, as global launch customer, is a highly anticipated event in the relatively young history of Qatar Airways and the second significant fleet milestone for our airline in almost as many months, having recently taken delivery of the first three of our A380 aircraft,” says Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways Group chief executive.

Over 70 per cent of the A350 XWB’s weight-efficient airframe is made from advanced ,combining composites (53 per cent), titanium and advanced aluminum alloys.

Qatar Airways has grown over its 17 years of operation to the point where today it is flying a modern fleet of 142 aircraft to 145 business and leisure destinations throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.

Airbus A350 XWB launch customer Qatar Airways ordered 80 examples of the family, including 43 A350-900s and 37 A350-1000s

In October the airline celebrated the first anniversary of its induction into the oneworld global alliance. Qatar Airways was the first Gulf carrier to join any global airline alliance.

Qatar Airways’ membership of oneworld provides its passengers with access to almost 1,000 airports in more than 150 countries, with 14,250 daily departures.

At the Farnborough International Airshow 2014 in July, the airline placed an order for 100 Boeing 777X aircraft, taking Qatar Airways’ orders to more than 340 aircraft, valued at $70 billion at list prices.