Airbus A350 XWB test aircraft to tour China

Monday, 31 October 2016 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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.