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Airbus delivers first A350 to Japan Airlines
June 14th 2019
Japan Airlines takes delivery of first A350-900 XWB. Read More »
Airbus delivered its first A350 aircraft to Japan Airlines on Thursday, saying the specially tailored version would start operating on Japan’s busy domestic routes.
The aircraft is also expected to serve demand during the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, Japanese officials said.
Airbus clinched its first jet order from Japan Airlines in 2013, cracking a big national market long dominated by the European firm’s main rival, Boeing.
The $9.5 billion deal came after a lengthy campaign to woo JAL officials who were unfamiliar with Airbus aircraft, including their distinctive side-stick controls.
JAL Chairman Yoshiharu Ueki, a former pilot, said an experience on the A380 simulator had helped sway his decision to choose Airbus for JAL, which at the time was one of only two full-service airlines globally without any Airbus aircraft.
“I have the urge to take the control stick on the ferry flight to Tokyo,” he joked at a webcast ceremony in Toulouse.
Boeing dominates the market for wide-body jets in Japan but there is a more mixed market for smaller narrowbody jets.
The A350 will fly to Japan using traditional fuel blended with alternative fuel, said Airbus sales chief Christian Scherer. It will begin flying in Japan on September 1 between Tokyo Haneda-Fukuoka.
The Asia-Pacific account for one-third of the market for the A350. Its largest customers are Cathay Pacific Airways, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines. The JAL aircraft has a configuration of 12 first, 94 business and 363 economy seats. It is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, which have a 99.9% reliability rating.
Airbus has 893 orders for the aircraft type from 51 customers with 278 A350s already delivered.
JAL has ordered 31 A350s, 18 A350-900 and 13 A350-1000. It will begin flying long-haul international with the -1000 in 2023.
Reported by Reuters and Christine McGee in Toulouse.
