The Airbus A350-1000 is the biggest member of the A350 XWB family, for very long haul flights.
With a typical three-class configuration, it can carry 366 passengers, based on premium economy and economy. It has a range of around 8,000 nautical miles, but Maria Luisa Lucas, Head of Marketing, A350-1000, Airbus, says: ‘Watch out, because we’re going to get a lot more out of this airplane soon.”
“Watch out, because we’re going to get a lot more out of this airplane soon.”
By Maria Luisa Lucas, Head of Marketing, A350-1000, Airbus
She says: “We knew that with long hours on an airplane, when it comes the wellbeing of the passengers [they] need wider seats, a lot more space, and many other things that influence the comfort of the passengers in the flight. So there’s bigger windows, a very silent cabin, bigger bins, mood lighting, etc. All of that was conceived on the A350 because of the long range, the ultra-long range capacity that the family has.”
APAC growth
She adds that it is almost as quiet as the A380 and that Airbus’ airline customers have the flexibility to offer nine or ten seats abreast for economy passengers, and eight for premium economy.
Lucas expects the aircraft to be particularly popular with Asian airlines “because we have this transpacific capability on the airplane…and in a region that grows at a pace – you’ve seen the growth in 2017, it was about 9% – it’s unbelievable. When we look at the 20 years to come, we are still looking at a growth [rate] of 5.6%, a lot higher than the global growth [rate]. So the size of airplane with that capacity and that capability of ultra-long haul makes a lot of sense for a lot of airlines in the region.
First operator
Qatar Airways will be the first airline to operate the A350-1000 in a few weeks’ time. At the moment, it is still undergoing tests for certification – the video provides a look at the cockpit as well as the cabin.
