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Emirates Receives First New Aircraft Type Since 2008

The airline's first Airbus A350 aircraft is on the way from Toulouse to Dubai.

An Emirates A350 aircraft (Photo: Airbus)

Emirates announced a new milestone on Monday with the delivery of its first Airbus A350 aircraft.

Completely New Aircraft Type

The unit registered as A6-EXA is marking a new era for the airline’s fleet. This delivery is the first of 65 A350 aircraft slated to join Emirates over the next several years and represents the first new aircraft type to enter the airline’s fleet since 2008.

The handover ceremony took place in Toulouse, France, with the A350 scheduled for a ferry flight to Dubai at 4 p.m. local time.

Emirates’ first Airbus A350-900 delivery flight from Toulouse to Dubai. (Photo: flightradar24.com)

Soon in Commercial Service

Once it lands in Dubai, the aircraft will undergo final preparations at Emirates Engineering before its official unveiling at a special event later this week.

The new aircraft type was scheduled to enter service in 2024, with later timeline adjustments pushing that deadline into 2025.

After months of delays, the Airbus A350 will officially begin commercial operations in January, debuting with a flight to Edinburgh, Scotland. It will then expand its reach to eight additional destinations across the Middle East, West Asia, and Europe.

Filip Kopeć

Author

  • Filip Kopeć

    A passionate aviation enthusiast that started off his career as an aerospace engineer, but found his true calling on the commercial side of the airline business. Now as a finance guy among avgeeks and an avgeek among finance guys, he has experience working in the Revenue Divisions of three airlines. In his spare time he enjoys traveling, but admittedly sometimes is more about the journey than the destination.

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