Sichuan Airlines receives its first A350-900
Above: Sichuan Airlines takes delivery of its first Airbus A350-900.
The A350 took off from Airbus’ headquarters in Toulouse, France, and will land in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, China, prior to entry into service later this month. Powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, Sichuan Airlines’ A350-900 aircraft features a two-class cabin layout of 331 seats: 28 busines, and 303 economy. The airline will initially operate the new aircraft on its domestic routes, followed by its international 'Panda Routes'.
Paul Freestone, Rolls-Royce Senior Vice President – Customers, Civil Aerospace, who attended the ceremony, said: “We warmly congratulate both Sichuan Airlines and Airbus on the delivery of the first leased A350 to mainland China. The A350 has enjoyed truly global success and this is another new chapter in that story. We are proud to be powering Sichuan Airlines’ entire widebody fleet and look forward to strengthening our partnership by continuing to provide outstanding economic and environmental performance with these new aircraft.”
Sichuan Airlines operates an all Airbus fleet of 135 aircraft, including 123 A320 Family aircraft and 12 A330 Family aircraft.
The relationship between Sichuan Airlines and Airbus dates back to 1995 when the airline introduced the A320, becoming the first to operate an Airbus fly-by-wire aircraft on the Chinese mainland. It was also the first operator to take delivery of a Tianjin assembled A320 Family aircraft. In 2010, Sichuan Airlines received its first A330 aircraft, in 2016 it signed a Letter of Intent for leasing four A350-900s and in 2018 it signed an agreement with Airbus to order 10 A350-900s.
By the end of July 2018, Airbus recorded a total of 890 firm orders for the A350 XWB from 46 customers worldwide.
