Airbus has delivered its 100th A350 XWB — an A350-900 for China Airlines — and says it is on track to meet the target of 10 A350 deliveries per month by the end of 2018.
Airbus has delivered its 100th A350 XWB, around 30 months after the first delivery (an A350-900 for Qatar Airways) in December 2014. The 100th aircraft delivered is an A350-900 for China Airlines.
The milestone follows the first delivery to a U.S. carrier — an A350-900 for Delta Air Lines — on 13th July.
In spite of supply chain-related delays to aircraft deliveries, Fabrice Bregier, Airbus COO and President Commercial Aircraft says the company is now on track to meet the target of 10 A350 deliveries per month by the end of 2018.
To date the A350 has been delivered to 14 airlines worldwide and is flying with an operational reliability rate of 99%.
The A350-1000, the newest and largest member of the A350 XWB family, is currently in flight testing. Type certification and first customer delivery are scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2017. Qatar Airways is also the launch customer for the A350-1000.
To date, Airbus has recorded a total of 847 firm orders for the A350 XWB from 45 customers worldwide, including 628 A350-900s and 211 A350-1000s.