Yesterday, the first Airbus A350-900 for Turkish Airlines successfully completed her maiden flight over France.
The aircraft, with test registration F-WZGN and listed as flight AIB01GN, took off from the Airbus facility in Toulouse, France and spent around 4 and a half hours in the skies.
Following a departure from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport at 08:30 UTC, the aircraft headed to the Bay of Biscay. During 2 hours and half the aircraft flew at a high altitude between 35,000ft and 41,000ft, performing circles in the French sky.
After this, the aircraft headed southwest passing over Bordeaux at 43,000ft, before heading to the south.
Before returning to the airport a low altitude test was performed, at (around 12,000 ft) for 45 minutes flying over the border with Spain and the locality of Castres.
The initial flight marked the beginning of the last phase of production. This includes cabin completion, as well as further ground and flight tests leading to customer acceptance and delivery.
This A350 will be registered as TC-LPA. Turkish Airlines has a total of 25 A350-900s on order from Airbus.
Turkish A350 Routes
The A350 will be based at the Turkish hub in Istanbul (IST) and will operate five routes including: London Heathrow, Dubai, Manila, São Paulo and Buenos Aires.
According to RoutesOnline, the first flight will take place on 13th April to London Heathrow, performing flights TK1985/1986 replacing the Boeing 777-300ER.
Covered Image by Clément Alloing
