Airbus world tour

Off on a world tour last week was Airbus A350 XWB MSN5.  This route proving trial is designed to demonstrate readiness for airline operations and will include high airfield performance, auto-landing trials, and airport turnaround and handling services.  Some flights will have passengers on board.  The A350 world tour itinerary includes 14 major airports worldwide and one route via the North Pole.

The aircraft is one of the fleet of five test aircraft and one of two with a fully functional cabin (42 Business Class and 223 Economy Class seats). 

The three-week trial starts and finishes at Toulouse.

Trip one, includes destinations in Canada via the north-pole and Frankfurt.  Sortie two is to Asia, and includes Hong Kong and Singapore.  The third excursion takes the aircraft to Johannesburg and Sydney from where it will fly to Auckland, followed by Santiago de Chile and São Paulo.  For the fourth and final trip, the A350 will depart from Toulouse to Doha, then onto Perth returning to Doha, Toulouse again and finally Moscow and Helsinki.

The flight test programme has to date operated 540 sectors and 2,250 flight hours.  Total firm orders stand at 742.  www.airbus.com

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