Airbus delivers its first A350-1000 to launch customer Qatar Airways

The aircraft is the first of 37 A350-1000s ordered by the carrier and is the first ever Airbus aircraft fitted with its new Qsuite seats, offering the first ever double bed in Business class. Qatar Airways is the world’s largest A350 XWB family customer with 76 aircraft on order and the largest A350-1000 customer.

“Qatar Airways always demands the very best for its customers, so it is right that we are the first airline in the world to fly the Airbus A350-1000,” said Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, “This remarkable state-of-the-art aircraft will become a firm part of Qatar Airways fleet and will keep us ahead of the curve, allowing us to continue to offer our passengers outstanding levels of comfort and service.”

Rolls-Royce also joined Airbus and Qatar Airways to celebrate the delivery as it is powered by Trent XWB-97 engines.

The Trent XWB-97 is the 97,000lb higher thrust version of the Trent XWB. 

The other version of the Trent XWB, rated at 84,000lb, powers the A350-900 which first entered service in January 2015, again with Qatar Airways as the global launch customer. Today 290 of these engines are in service with airlines worldwide, having accumulated more than 1.3 million flying hours and achieving the best entry into service performance of any widebody engine, with outstanding reliability. 

Al Baker said: “As an airline known for delivering innovation and world firsts Qatar Airways is proud to be the global launch customer for the Airbus A350 XWB-1000 and to take delivery of our first aircraft today. As the World’s Best Airline we look to work with the world’s best partners so I am pleased to be here today with Airbus and Rolls-Royce to celebrate this milestone in aviation history. We look forward to providing our customers with continued award-winning service from day one with this latest aircraft.” 

Fabrice Brégier added: “It gives us huge pride at Airbus to deliver the very first A350-1000 to our launch customer Qatar Airways. This is another great moment for Airbus and I would like to thank Rolls-Royce for its continued support in providing this latest version of the fuel- efficient and quiet Trent XWB engines. As the most powerful engine ever developed for an Airbus aircraft, it’s yet another great feat of engineering from Rolls-Royce.”