By the end of September, Airbus expects to have received European Aviation Safety Agency type certification for the A350 ahead of delivery of the first two aircraft– manufacturer’s serial numbers (MSNs) 006 and 007–to Qatar Airways by the end of the year. The final flight-test aircraft, MSN005, flew on June 20–a year and six days after the type’s maiden flight.
By then, the initial four aircraft had logged more than 2,000 hours as part of a longer, 2,500-hour flight-test campaign. Flight-testing time has averaged 80 hours per month per aircraft, the highest rate achieved by Airbus on any program, and sometimes exceeded 100 hours, according to head of developmental flight test Patrick du Che, who reports a “significant reduction” in the number of “snags” compared with previous projects. Du Che attributes this to Airbus having validated and verified aircraft and systems maturity before first flight.
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