Airbus will bring one of its A350 development aircraft to Australia and New Zealand in August during a round-the-world flight as part of the aircraft’s functional and reliability testing program.
The aircraft is scheduled to arrive in Sydney on Monday August 4, and will fly to Auckland the following afternoon.
While in Sydney the aircraft will be demonstrated to media, and presumably to Qantas and Virgin Australia, who are prospective customers for the aircraft. Virgin is evaluating the A350 and 787 for its future widebody long-haul needs, while Qantas has identified the A350-1000, along with the 777X, as a potential 747-400 replacement.
