Airbus A350 XWB test aircraft to tour China

An Airbus A350 XWB test aircraft will make its China debut touring the cities of Haikou (HAK), Beijing (PEK), Shanghai (SHA), Guangzhou (CAN) and Chengdu (CTU) from 29 October to 8 November.

The eleven-day trip also includes static and flight displays at the Zhuhai Airshow.

Featuring a distinctive ‘Carbon Fibre’ signature livery to reflect its primary construction from advanced composite materials, the aircraft (MSN2) is one of Airbus’ fleet of five A350-900 test aircraft and one of two with a fully functional cabin configuration (42 business class and 210 economy class seats). The flights will be operated by an Airbus flight-test crew.

The A350 XWB has received valuable endorsements from several Chinese customers. China Eastern Airlines ordered 20 A350-900 aircraft in April 2016. Air China ordered 10 A350-900s with its first delivery scheduled in 2017. In September, Sichuan Airlines signed a Letter of Intent for leasing four A350-900s.

China’s aviation industry has made important contributions to the development and manufacture of the A350 XWB. Some 5% of the airframe is manufactured in China.

To date, Airbus has received 810 firm orders for the A350 XWB from 43 customers worldwide. At the end of September, a total of 41 A350 XWBs were in service with nine customers.