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A350-1000 touches down in Sydney

written by australianaviation.com.au | February 11, 2018

photo- Lance Broad

The Airbus A350-1000 has touched down in Sydney as part of its 30,000nm demonstration tour across the Asia-Pacific and Middle East.
The A350-1000, MSN065 F-WLXV, touched down in Sydney at around 1025 on Saturday evening. The aircraft is expected to be demonstrated to Qantas and Virgin Australia executives before departing for the next leg of its tour, Auckland, on Monday afternoon.
F-WLXV began its 12-city trip on January 26, with its first destination after departing from Toulouse the Qatari capital Doha. It has since visited Muscat and Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok.
The A350-1000 is 73.78m in length, 6.98m longer than the A350-900, and is designed to fly 7,950nm carrying 366 passengers, 41 more passengers than the A350-900 which is already flying with a number of airlines.
No airline in Oceania has ordered the A350, although the widebody twin is an increasingly common sight at local airports thanks to services operated by Cathay Pacific (AucklandBrisbane, Melbourne and Perth), China Airlines (Sydney), Qatar Airways (Adelaide), Singapore Airlines (Brisbane and Melbourne) and Thai Airways (Melbourne).

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Comments (23)

  • Stephen

    says:

    I just read your post while sitting on the tarmac at SYD waiting to depart, looked out the window and there it is ! Very Nice.

  • Darren

    says:

    What a beautiful piece of aviation,
    Possible replacement for the QF 747 or for a few A330s?
    OR
    Addition to the VA fleet

  • Lechuga

    says:

    Love this aircraft, wish I could head up to Sydney to see it, or it would go somewhere other than Sydney for once.

  • Dom

    says:

    More chance of seeing this with Virgin.
    Virgin will need to update the 77Ws and A330s going into the next decade, the 77W is too expensive and heavy for the trans pacific, now that the 787/350 can do the same mission with substantial reduced overheads. VA have spent considerable amounts of cash on the Airbus program no chance they would walk away from it.

  • Dunover

    says:

    I must say that I’ve always thought of Airbus as a cheap alternative to Boeing, but the 350 sure is a beautiful machine. And those capabilities are quite extraordinary.

  • Scott

    says:

    @Dom
    Your right, the 350-900 is a glove like fit for Virgin, 300 seats ( take off 40 seats from 777, add 25 seats on the 330) whilst maintaining product advantage and floor space on the Pacific for the J class bar and Y @ 9 abreast Vs 787, that’s a clear nose to tail advantage in all cabins.
    If they desire the currant capacity(777 to LAX) 1000 will do that prob 345 seats with J bar.
    Want range option is the 900ULR all under one type, Asia and the US covered.

  • Stephen Boyce

    says:

    Qantas would need the A350-900ulr and A350-1000 to do well and boeing 777-9 to replace airbus a380

  • Brian Willey

    says:

    Saw this aircraft about a year ago being tested for a month at my local airport. Looks great.

  • Adam Hampshire

    says:

    I find it interesting that airbus brought the aircraft here noting that no airlines in the asia pacific region (and I do appologise completely if I am wrong) have expressed any interest in it at all. Its all well and good taking execs for a free flight and doting on them hand in foot trying to get them to open the wallets and writing a big fat cheque for a few airframes but QANTAS has committed itself to the 787 program and Virgin doesn’t have the money to buy them. So who I wonder in Australia, is airbus thinking they are going to sell it too? Plus boing will be releasing their 777X in the not to distant future and I believe that airlines who operate them would most likely buy them instead. Why you ask? Well think about it they are a know airframe they will have a huge commonality with the current 777 fleets so those who need to will not be required to purchase extra/additional engineering items in order to conduct scheduled checks. Technicians will have a common knowledge of the aircraft already. There are lots more arguments as to why but the point im trying to make is money. But again its just my point of view.

  • Derrick

    says:

    @Adam Hampshire, QANTAS has project sunrise look for an aircraft that can fly from the east coast of Australia to New York, London, Rio. Air New Zealand will be looking at replacements for the 777 in the next few years

  • Craigy

    says:

    @ Adam Hampshire I think you will find the new B777x is a completely different beast. From what I have seen from Boeing, there is very little in common with the existing air frame other than its shape. Completely new flight deck functionality and avionics, wider cabin (4″), completely new engines, composite wing and the list goes on.
    At the end of the day, airlines buy aircraft that meet their operational requirements and at an acceptable cost, not only in purchase but ongoing operational costs. So operating a version of an aircraft doesn’t necessarily mean ordering the next version. I think if Qantas select the A350 ULR for Project Sunrise, the 1000 is in with a real change to replace the A380.
    Current Asia-Pacific orders are:
    – Asiana
    – Cathay Pacific
    – Japan Airlines
    – LATAM

  • Lechuga

    says:

    @Adam Hampshire.
    Qantas have only really committed to the 787-9 because of its range, seem to have no real interest in the -8 (Jetstar only really have it because it’s the right sized plane for an LCC)
    And it looks like they want an aircraft to replace the A330-300s. They’ll have a big thing set up somewhere comparing the 787-10 and the A350-900. Airbus will be showing their aircraft off here, even though it’s the -1000 the inside is pretty much the same just with some extra rows. It’s a great chance to show off what the -900 can do for them and that the -1000 can do on higher capacity routes like HKG, LAX etc. and it’s a good chance to show off what the ULR would be like for project sunrise.
    All in all it’s a great idea.

  • Lechuga

    says:

    Plus those saying Virgin are no chance at getting anything, they don’t need to buy them, their A330s and 777s are all leased anyway, I’m fairly sure the only things that aren’t leased are the 737s, even tigers A320s are leased.

  • jasonp

    says:

    Adam, do you really think they would bring it here if they didn’t think there was a chance of a sale?

  • Ruth Flick

    says:

    What time will it fly to Auckland?

  • Jeremy

    says:

    Just saw the A350 doing a flight over Sydney Harbour and off the coast heading south.

  • Brad

    says:

    @Lechuga, 4 of the 5 777s are owned by VA, just over half of the 737s are owned and nearly all of the F100s are owned. All of the ATR and A330 fleets are leased.

  • john doutch

    says:

    For what its worth I believe airbus has a big chance of getting orders for the A350 in its variations from QF, unless Boeing pulls its veritable finger out.

  • Craigy

    says:

    @ Lechuga
    The original plan for the B787 with Qantas was that Jetstar would get the B788 first and when the B789 was available, the B788 would be transferred to Qantas for mostly domestic service to replace the domestic A332. One reason for not adding the B788 to the domestic fleet is the cost of operating a long range aircraft on short domestic routes. Almost the same problem of operating the A330s on short domestic hops. That all changed obviously with Jetstar keeping the B788. According AJ, Qantas are now looking at a business case for the purchase of A321 NEO for Jetstar to release B788 aircraft onto other routes and use the A321 on the thinner routes.

  • Lechuga

    says:

    @Brad cheers, wasn’t 100% sure, just knew a good chunk of the fleet wasn’t 100% owned.

  • Joe350

    says:

    I believe that the best aircraft to replace the B767 that left the fleet many years ago is the A321neo. This aircraft will better suit Qantas Domestic operations.
    The Airbus A330s both the 200s and 300s are better off economically operating East/West coast and international sectors.
    The A350 family would slot In perfectly within the current route structure and any future expansion plans Qantas may have planned in the background.
    The great thing about Airbus is the constant product improvement. Currently, Airbus is looking at moving the rear pressure bulkhead aft in new build A350s to fit in additional seating capacity, galleys or Lavatories. The other investment in the product is an improved and larger Sharklet.
    All in all, I would personally pick the Airbus product over the current offerings from the competition. I wouldn’t want to operate an aircraft with folding wing tips nor bet on an airframe that has yet to be built.

  • Barry Midgley

    says:

    Looking forward to seeing the arrival at Qatar Airways later this month with the business class Q suite..

  • AlanH

    says:

    Reading these assorted comments, I weep for our generation. Social media has a lot to answer for. Whatever happened to the proper use of English (our national language), spelling and grammar? I guess as long as the communication of ideas is being achieved, it doesn’t really matter, but it is such a sad state of affairs.

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