Over the last two weeks A350 MSN5 F-WWYV has been undertaking Airline 1. The 110,000 kilometre route proving campaign mirrors airline service, testing and hopefully accelerating the maturity of the aircraft by measuring its performance against KPIs such as dispatch reliability.

With major testing already complete, Airline 1 is the last major milestone before the Airbus applies for certification. Following certification the first four A350-900s will be delivered, in order, to Qatar Airways, Vietnam Airlines, Finnair and TAM.

“The concept is simple: to operate and test the aircraft as much as possible in an operational environment, use the maintenance and support systems that our customers would have, capture their findings as soon as possible, and fix small issues quickly,” says Didier Evrard, Head of the A350XWB Programme.

While MSN5 arrived in Perth from Doha today on the final leg of Airline 1, over the last two weeks the campaign has already brought the aircraft to Sydney and Hong Kong where av journalist Will Horton and I were lucky enough to take a look ground and in the sky. Enjoy the tour.

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