It appears that Qatar Airways will inaugurate scheduled passenger flights with its new Airbus A350XWB from January 15, 2015 on the Doha – Frankfurt route. The Gulf carrier, the launch customer for the next-generation airliner, has already revealed the German city would be the first destination for the aircraft, but it has yet to formally confirm when the flights will launch.
However, this morning (December 2, 2014) it has opened reservations for the type to debut in passenger service on the daily 'QR067' flight from Hamad International Airport in Doha to Frankfurt from January 15, 2015. The introduction of the aircraft on that particular flight will see the carrier initially deploying both the 787 and A350 alongside one another on its two daily flights on this link to Europe, although ultimately the A350 will operate both flights as additional aircraft are delivered.
Here's the airline's planned schedule from January 15, 2015...
QR069 DOH0205 – 0655FRA 788 D
QR067 DOH0740 – 1230FRA 359 D
QR070 FRA1045 – 1840DOH 788 D
QR068 FRA1525 – 2325DOH 359 D
... but the planned A350 introduction, obviously, remains subject to confirmation and change.
It appears that the introduction of the A350 on the second daily rotation could commence as early as mid-February with Qatar Airways updating its schedule once again and displaying the A350-900 to operate both flights on the Doha - Frankfurt route between February 16, 2015 and March 1, 2015.
Qatar Airways was due to take delivery of the first production A350 on December 13, 2014, at the Airbus production facility at Toulouse Blagnac Airport, the airline and manufacturer jointly announced at the start of December. However, just three days ahead of the ceremony Qatar Airways revealed the "aircraft ceremonial transfer of title has been postponed until further notice". A revised date of December 22, 2014 has now been confirmed for the official first delivery.
The airline has 80 Airbus A350s on order, and expects to induct the first eight production aircraft into its fleet before 2015 year-end. They will be configured in a dual-cabin 283-seat arrangement with 36 Business Class and 247 Economy Class seats.
“Qatar Airways looks forward to inaugurating our first A350 on the Doha – Frankfurt route, and to very soon introducing this next-generation aircraft on many other cities offered on the airline’s extensive network,” said His Excellency Akbar Al Baker, group chief executive officer, Qatar Airways. “The delivery of our first A350 XWB aircraft, as global launch customer, is a highly anticipated event in the relatively young history of Qatar Airways and the second significant fleet milestone for our airline, having recently taken delivery of our A380 aircraft.
The airline said it selected the European city of Frankfurt for its first route for the Extra Wide Body (XWB) service because of the "significant capacity the aircraft provides for the comfort of its business and leisure travellers".
Airbus received the green light to begin deliveries of the A350-900, the first of a family of A350XWB airliners, last month after it received Type Certification on November 12, 2014 from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The milestone ratified the earlier A350-900 Type Certification awarded by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on September 30, 2014.
These awards mark the end of a stringent program of certification trials with five test A350-900 aircraft accumulating more than 2,600 flight test hours to create and successfully achieve one of the aviation industry’s most thorough and efficient test programs ever developed for a commercial airliner.
The five test and development A350-900s took to the skies for a formation flight in September 2014, bringing together all of the aircraft used for Airbus’ successful campaign leading to certification of this latest Airbus widebody jetliner. You can watch a behind-the-scenes video, below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI4jWYZLeHQ
Airbus has secured 750 orders from 39 customers worldwide for the A350XWB family, with approximately one-third of the total coming from operators across the Asia Pacific region, where the aircraft's range and performance can support medium- and long-haul missions. Vietnam Airlines will be the second A350 XWB operator, and first in this area and its first aircraft is now in final assembly in preparation for a planned mid-2015 handover.
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