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Qatar Airways has become the second carrier to operate the Airbus A350-1000 to Australia after deploying the next generation widebody on its daily Doha-Sydney-Canberra flight.
On Friday, the Doha-based carrier switched its QR906/907 rotation from the Boeing 777-300ER to the A350-1000, with A7-ANJ touching down at Sydney Airport a little after 0600 local time.
After about 90 minutes on the ground, the A350-1000 took off for the short hop to Canberra, where it landed just before 0900.
The A350-1000 was in Canberra for about five hours before operating the reciprocal QR907 to Sydney and onwards to Doha.
It has arrived! We are glad to have @qatarairways state-of-the-art Airbus A350-1000 here in Canberra✈️? pic.twitter.com/iFB9PKa9C8
— Canberra Airport (@CanberraAirport) November 1, 2019
The airline’s A350-1000s have been configured to carry 327 passengers, with 46 QSuite business class seats featuring direct aisle access and 281 economy class seats at nine abreast.
“With the deployment of the next-generation A350-1000, we’re excited to give Australian travellers the chance to experience world-class comfort in the skies,” Qatar Airways senior manager for Australasia Adam Radwanski said in a statement.
The change of aircraft to the A350-1000 represented a capacity downgauge on the route, given Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777-300ERs have either 354, 358 seats or 412 seats, according to the airline’s website.
Qatar Airways was the launch customer of the A350-1000, when it took the first of 42 on order in 2018. Qatar Airways currently had 10 A350-1000s in the fleet alongside 38 A350-900s, according to the airline’s website.
In addition to Canberra and Sydney, the airline’s Australian network also included nonstop flights to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth from its Doha hub.
Qatar Airways announced in October that it would also bring the A350-1000 onto the Doha-Adelaide route from March 2020, replacing the A350-900.
Qatar joins Cathay Pacific flying A350-1000 to Australia
On October 27, Melbourne welcomed Cathay Pacific as the first airline to operate scheduled A350-1000 passenger flights to Australia. Flight CX105 operated by B-LXK was the inaugural service.
Cathay Pacific has switched one of its three daily Melbourne-Hong Kong rotations from the A350-900 to the A350-1000.
It has also upgauged seven of its 10 Perth-Hong Kong flights a week service from the A330-300 to the next generation widebody.
Flight schedules for the A350-1000 Doha-Sydney-Canberra service:
Flight Number/Routing |
Time of departure |
Time of arrival |
Days of operation |
|
QR906 Doha-Sydney |
0750 |
0610+1 |
Daily |
|
QR907 Canberra-Sydney |
1400 |
1510 |
Daily |
VIDEO: A look at the making of Qatar Airways’ first Airbus A350-1000 in February 2018 from the airline’s YouTube channel.
Patrick McDonagh
says:Nice to see the A350 in service here in Aus. Do we get any more legroom in Economy?
Replyto Patrick
says:No more legroom, just standard 31 Inches on QR A350.
Economy = Minimal Profit for airline.
If you want more leg room you will need to pay for it.
Rod Pickin
says:Surely there is a lesson here for Qantas, just look at all the other great airlines that have been announced in this great publication, that they intend to or have introduced a new A350 type into service within Oz. We survived at least one generation without daring to venture into high performance heavy twins and today, sadly we seem to be adopting the same reticence. Unfortunately with Boeing at the moment we are entering another creeper delivery delay and with the Emperor of EK advising that he won’t entertain another type until it’s actual performance becomes data, (understandable) then we can’t afford to wait for a Qantas type decision for much longer, the waiting list is growing and growing!
Craigy
says:@ Rob Pickin. Qantas has said that they will make a decision on Project Sunrise by the end of this year. Next year they will select replacements for the narrow body fleet. Plus there is another 5 B789 on order to be delivered this financial year