A350 - Den første er nå levert til Qatar

Airbus Delivers First A350-900 Widebody to Qatar Airways

                             by Gregory Polek

 - December 22, 2014, 8:59 AM

                           Seven years after placing the launch order for the A350, Qatar Airways accepted first delivery from Airbus.                               (Photo: Airbus)

                                                              Airbus delivered the first production A350-900 to Qatar Airways on                                                                           Monday during a ceremony at the manufacturer’s production facility in                                                                     Toulouse, France. Plans call for the airplane—the first of 43 A350-900s                                                                   and 37 A350-1000s on order by Qatar—to fly the airline’s Doha-Frankfurt                                                               route starting next month. The state-owned airline placed its A350 order,                                                                 which it valued at $16 billion, at the 2007 Paris Air Show.

                                                                 “The arrival of this new generation of aircraft type represents a moment                                                                  of great symbolic national pride for the State of Qatar, and I know its                                                                        delivery will be met with excitement at its new home, Hamad International                                                                Airport, which was built for advanced aircraft types such as this,” Qatar                                                                    Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker. Qatar Airways has seen rapid                                                                                    growth during its 17 years of operation, to the point where today it flies                                                                    142 aircraft to 145 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa,                                                                    Asia Pacific, North America and South America.

                                                               The A350-900 gained European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)                                                                           certification on September  30 and U.S. Federal Aviation Administration                                                                   (FAA) approval on November 12. The respective                                                                                                        awards came after a fleet of five test aircraft accumulated more than                                                                       2,600 flight test hours since first flight on June 14, 2013. The family of                                                                     aircraft, which also includes the A350-1000 and A350-800, had drawn                                                                     firm orders for 778 airplanes from 41 customers by the end                                                                                       of November.