First flight for Emirates A350
October 3, 2024
The first Airbus A350-900 for Emirates took to the skies for the very first time on 25 September. The aircraft (c/n 684) is registered as F-WZGA but will become A6-EXA once delivered in October 2024.
The aircraft is the first of 65 A350-900s on order by Emirates, ten of which are expected to have been delivered by March next year.
Emirates Airline had wanted to order more A380s, in an improved version, but a lack of orders more widely forced Airbus shut down A380 production, and prompted Emirates to rethink its fleet renewal strategy. Emirates will now keep the A380 aircraft flying through to the mid-2030s (much longer than it normally operates aircraft for) and may even acquire some A380s from other operators who have been less able to operate the type as profitably or as successfully.
But going forward, the backbone of the Emirates fleet is expected to be formed by the Airbus A350-900, the Boeing 787-9 and the Boeing 777X.
The A350s will be used by Emirates for medium and long-haul operations, and the first ten will initially serve nine destinations. Service entry was originally scheduled for September 2024, but were delayed by delays in delivery of the new aircraft. The first destinations are now expected to be Bahrain, Edinburgh and Kuwait (from November), with Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bologna and Colombo following in January 2025, and Lyon and Muscat in March. Several sources have reported that the first commercial flight for the A350 will be to Edinburgh on 4 November 2024, allowing the Scottish capital to rejoin the Emirates route network. Others expect the first services to be to nearby Bahrain.
The A350 will introduce the airline’s Premium Economy seat offering on Middle East/GCC regional routes for the first time. The first ten aircraft will operate in a three-class layout, with 32 ‘next generation’ Business Class seats, 21 seats in Premium Economy, and 259 Economy Class seats which Emirates say will be ‘generously pitched’.
As the Emirates A350s enter the fleet, customers will gain more opportunities to experience the carrier’s highly acclaimed Premium Economy product and to sample its next generation Business Class cabins for the first time, particularly on short and medium haul routes in the Middle East and GCC, West Asia and Europe.
Adnan Kazim, Emirates Airline Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer, said that: “The A350 will be a game-changer for Emirates, enabling us to serve regional points with superior operating efficiency and flexibility across the Middle East and GCC, West Asia and Europe. With the latest generation cabin products including more of our sought-after Premium Economy to more cities, top-notch in-flight entertainment technologies and an abundance of other customer-friendly features, the Emirates A350 builds on our long-standing commitment of investing in the very best customer experience in the sky. Flying the A350 to nine cities in such a short span of time adds more premium cabin options and choice across geographies for our customers, and ensures we maintain our competitive edge and industry leading position.”
The A350-900 fleet will support the airline’s future growth as well as the Dubai D33 economic agenda set out by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, which aims to add 400 cities to Dubai’s foreign trade map over the next decade.
