Cathay Pacific announced that its first Airbus A350-1000 rolled out of the paint shop in Toulouse, France.
The new A350-1000 will add to Cathay’s growing long-haul operation and will begin service to Washington-Dulles this September, making it the longest flight in Cathay’s network at 8,153 miles.
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific will be the second carrier to operate the A350-1000, after Qatar, and has placed 20 orders for the type. The airline currently flies 22 A350-900s, a smaller variation of the aircraft.
The A350-1000 is configured to seat 46 passengers in Business, 32 in Premium Economy, and 256 in Economy seating 334 passengers. The A350-900 is currently configured to seat 280. The A350-1000 will also receive specially designed Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.
The airline has made substantial improvements in expanding its fleet over the past few years. Currently, Cathay is anticipating the delivery of 79 new aircraft over the next six years. The new delivery includes six A350-900 aircraft, 32 A321neo aircraft, and 21 Boeing 777-9x aircraft.
Cathay is anticipating delivery of the A350-1000 by mid-2018.
Akhil Dewan
