First Glimpse of the Ultra Long Range Airbus A350

A busy month for Airbus' A350 programme.

After the delivery of the very first A350-1000 to Qatar Airways (something I was expected to report live from Toulouse, only to find myself in the need to cancel the trip at the very last moment!), now is the turn of the Ultra Long Range A350 XWB. The very first of the type has just rolled out of the assembly line.

At 9,700nm (enough to keep you in the air for 20h!), this newest version of the Airbus A350 is the longest range commercial aircraft in the market and has Singapore Airlines as the launch customer.

The development of these very long range aircraft versions underpins the establishment of ever longer routes, sometimes linking city pairs that seemed to far away from each other to have a commercially feasible direct link.

If interested in the state of ultra long haul routes in the World, check the piece that I wrote a few months ago about this topic for CNN: "Ultra Long Haul: onboard the world's longest flight"