Qatar Airways Takes Delivery Of First A350-1000
February 20, 2018
Qatar Airways has taken delivery of the first Airbus A350-1000 at a ceremony in Toulouse, with the aircraft set to enter service on the Doha-London Heathrow route later this month.
Qatar is the launch customer for both the A350-1000 and the smaller -900 aircraft, with current orders for 37 -1000s and 39 -900s. Airbus had delivered 21 -900s to the airline by the end of January. The airline said it is looking at the possibility of upgrading some of its -900 orders for more -1000s.
“The Qatar Airways A350-1000 will keep us ahead of the curve and allows us to continue to offer our passengers the outstanding levels of comfort and style that they expect from Qatar Airways,” the airline’s chief executive Akbar Al Baker said.
The A350-1000 is 7 metres (23 feet) longer than the -900. It is designed to seat up to 366 people in a two-class layout, against the -900’s 325 seat capacity.
It features a modified wing trailing-edge, new six-wheel main landing gear and more powerful Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines. They come in at USD$317.4 million at current list prices.