Eleven Days Spent Showing Off The New Airplane In The Region

Airbus has recently completed a tour of the Asian market with its new A350 XWB jetliner. The 11-day demonstration tour was performed ahead of the first customer delivery, planned before year-end.

Using its MSN005 A350-900 developmental aircraft, Airbus debuted the A350 XWB – already a world traveler as a result of its certification and global route-proving campaigns – in five new Asian destinations: Seoul, Tokyo, Hanoi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, before it arrived back in Toulouse, France.

Throughout this trip, more than 4,000 people came aboard the aircraft during its Asian stopovers, with 375 of them given the A350 XWB experience during demonstration flights.

Airbus says the airplane's aerodynamic design, advanced materials – including an airframe comprised of 53 percent composites – and fuel-efficient Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, equate to a 25 percent reduction in fuel burn, as well as lower emissions and maintenance costs for operators.

Approximately one-third of the planemaker's 750 total orders for the A350 come from operators in this region – placed by such carriers as AirAsia X, Air China, Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, SriLankan Airlines, Thai Airways International and Vietnam Airlines.

The first A350-900 version is scheduled to be delivered to global launch customer Qatar Airways before the end of 2014, with the initial aircraft for Vietnam Airlines – which will become the second A350 XWB operator, and first in Asia – now in final assembly in preparation for a planned mid-2015 handover.

(Image provided by Airbus)

FMI: www.airbus.com