Finnair Takes Delivery of Europe’s First Airbus A350 XWB
Finnair took delivery of the first of its next-generation Airbus A350 XWB aircraft yesterday (Oct. 7) at a special ceremony at the Airbus delivery centre in Toulouse, France.
Finnair is the first European airline to fly the fuel-efficient Airbus A350 XWB.
The airline intends to double its Asian traffic by 2020 from the 2010 baseline, and the A350 fleet investment is the backbone of this strategy. The company has ordered a total of 19 A350 aircraft, making it the largest investment in Finnair’s history. The first four aircraft are expected to arrive this year, with another seven being delivered in 2016 and 2017. The complete order will be fulfilled by 2023.
The A350’s first scheduled commercial flight, from Helsinki to Amsterdam and Oslo will be on Oct. 9 as part of its crew familiarization tour. The first Finnair Airbus A350 XWB will enter into long-haul service on Nov. 21 on Finnair’s Helsinki-Shanghai route.
The A350 XWB award-winning cabin has a fresh Nordic style that is light and spacious and the extra wide body of the A350 aircraft offers more space and wider seats for greater passenger comfort. Features include ambient mood LED lighting that gradually changes to suit the time of day, destination or season. Large panoramic view windows also allow more natural light into the cabin.
The extra wide body of Finnair’s A350 has 297 seats: 46 in Business class, 43 in Economy Comfort and 208 in Economy class. Business class seats convert to fully flat beds and are arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration.
