The Airbus A350-900 was originally conceived back in September 2004 as a planned successor to the successful A330 and A340 line. The project was officially launched on October 6, 2005, and is noted as Airbus' first design encompassing the used of carbon fiber throughout the structure of the aircraft, consequently yielding increased efficiency, reduced weight and improved aerodynamics.
First flown on June 14, 2013, the initial aircraft has now been delivered to launch customer Qatar Airways, which took delivery of their initial A350 on January 15, 2015.
A large aircraft, the A350 can seat up to 550 passengers in an all economy, high-density configuration with an 8,000-mile range. While the initial A350-900 model has a fuselage length of 219.5-ft with a 213-ft wingspan, the latter stretched variant, the A350-1000 comes in with a 242.4-ft fuselage, the same 213-ft wingspan and features Rolls Royce Trent XWB new technology engines.
Although a shorter A350-800, with a 198.6-ft fuselage was initially planned, it ultimately never came to fruition.
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport.
The airline is the second largest UK based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers carried, behind easyJet. In January 2011 BA merged with Iberia, creating the International Airlines Group (IAG), a holding company registered in Madrid, Spain. IAG is the world's third-largest airline group in terms of annual revenue and the second-largest in Europe. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the FTSE 100 Index. British Airways is the first passenger airline to have generated more than $1 billion on a single air route in a year (from 1 April 2017, to 31 March 2018, on the New York-JFK - London-Heathrow route).
BA was created in 1974 after a British Airways Board was established by the British government to manage the two nationalised airline corporations, British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways, and two regional airlines, Cambrian Airways and Northeast Airlines. On 31 March 1974, all four companies were merged to form British Airways. However, it marked 2019 as its centenary based on predecessor companies. After almost 13 years as a state company, BA was privatised in February 1987 as part of a wider privatisation plan by the Conservative government. The carrier expanded with the acquisition of British Caledonian in 1987, Dan-Air in 1992, and British Midland International in 2012. Its pre-eminence highlights the reach of the country's influence as many of its destinations in several regions were historically part of the British Empire.
It is a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance, along with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and the now-defunct Canadian Airlines. The alliance has since grown to become the third-largest, after SkyTeam and Star Alliance.
Gemini Jets
Following the success of the Airbus A319, A320 and A321 aircraft, Airbus embarked on an enhanced variant of the original series with a new line of aircraft, which it named the A319neo, A320neo and...
