QATAR AIRWAYS BRINGS FIRST AIRBUS A350 TO AMERICA
(Posted 09th December 2015)
Qatar Airways yesterday became the first airline to fly the Airbus A350XWB to the United States. The flight left Hamad International Airport this morning at 07.40 hrs local time and landed at New York’s JFK International at approximately 14.00 hrs local time. Qatar Airways was the global launch carrier of the A350XWB and is the first to fly the aircraft to three continents
The airline’s fleet of seven A350’s delivered so far currently flies twice a day to Frankfurt, daily to Munich and three times a day to Singapore from Doha.
An eighth A350 will join the fleet before the end of the year and is scheduled to fly daily to Philadelphia from January 01st, 2016. As more A350’s join the fleet throughout 2016, passengers will have the opportunity to experience this new-generation aircraft on flights to Boston launching on March 16th, and the new second daily flight to New York from April 01st and Adelaide, Australia from May 02nd.
‘We are proud to be the first commercial airline to land the Airbus A350 in the United States‘ said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Mr. Akbar Al Baker before adding: ‘As the global launch customer of this new-generation aircraft, we are excited to introduce it to the American market, where we will commence commercial flights from January 01st, 2016 on our route from Philadelphia‘.
‘We are delighted that the A350 will bring its unbeatable economics and superior passenger comfort to another continent‘ said Fabrice Brégier, Airbus President and CEO who will join the Qatar Airways celebrations in New York for this occasion. ‘The A350 is the aircraft of choice in its category and set to become a reference among passengers for its unrivalled cabin comfort and quietness‘.
A Qatar Airways A350XWB in flight.
Qatar Airways will be the first commercial airline to land an Airbus A350 in NYC.
The Business Class cabin of the A350 has 36 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration featuring an 80-inch fully-flat bed seat and 17-inch HD in-flight entertainment screen, making it the most generously configured business class cabin in the skies.
Economy Class features 247 18-inch wide seats in a 3-3-3 configuration, each with a 10.6-inch in-flight entertainment screen, and more space at shoulder level for passengers in window seats due to the vertical side wall panel design, again setting new standards for economy class travel.
This state of the art jet also offers advanced air conditioning technology and LED mood lighting to enhance the comfort of passengers while reducing fatigue after a long flight. In addition, the aircraft also offers in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity for all passengers allowing them to surf the web on the go.
As part of its on-going expansion plans, Qatar Airways will also launch further destinations to North America in 2016. Currently flying to eight key locations – Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Houston, Montreal, New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC – the airline will commence flights to Los Angeles in January, Boston in March and Atlanta in June of 2016.
Qatar Airways connects East African passengers with daily flights from Entebbe, Kigali, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar and with double daily frequencies to Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, offering one of the widest networks in East Africa of any foreign airline flying to this region.
