The First look at the new Airbus A350-1000
Colletts Travel is excited to announce the brand new Airbus A350-1000. The aircraft has just set off on its demonstration tour which will present the aircraft’s new features and how airlines may choose to lay out their cabins. The aircraft will be making its way around the Middle East and Asia-Pacific over three weeks.
This new model of aircraft is expected to be used by eleven different airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Etihad, ALC, Iran Air, Japan Airlines, Air Caraibes, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Latam and Asiana. Airbus has 169 orders from these airlines for the A350-1000 aircraft, but Qatar Airways will be launching the first of their 37 in the next few weeks. Cathay Pacific has 20 of the aircraft on order, whilst Etihad will have 22.
It is easy to see why we are excited about the aircraft, with a cabin that uses aesthetically pleasing smooth Airspace design and ambient LED lighting, in which airlines can choose from millions of colours to help you unwind. The lighting can also be set to replicate natural light throughout the day to help with your jet lag, which is a wonderful bonus.
Great news for passengers who like to bring the kitchen sink with them on their travels, the improved overhead storage in the cabin is much larger in the new A350-1000 model; each compartment has the capacity to hold five cabin sized suitcases. Despite there being no overhead storage in the middle row of the business class cabin, this provides more headroom. The overhead storage in the economy cabin does not take up that much space anyway, allowing just over 6ft of height room.
The longer body of the A350-1000 allows for an extra 40 seats within business and economy classes. The demonstration aircraft has 40 seats within business class in a 1-2-1 layout, which leaves an excellent 21 inches of width, 44 inches of pitch, and a very generous 74 inch flat bed when reclined. There is one cabin in business class with a door just for business class passengers to enter and exit the aircraft. These changes come after consulting real customers on the design, allowing for a more focused and higher quality service for you.
The demonstration aircraft supports 36 Zodiac economy plus class seats with a pitch of 34 inches in a 3-3-3 layout. There are also 219 superb economy class seats in the same layout formation, with only 2 inches less pitch and a fantastic 18 inches of width.
Another one of the new features is a change to the diving walls between the galley and crew rest areas, and the cabins. These will absorb sound in order to reduce the amount of noise from service trolleys during turbulence, to make it a more relaxing and peaceful journey for you. Airbus has also improved the wing trailing edge which chages shape during flight; they have improved the engine with a more powerful and impressive Rolls-Royce XWB-97, as well as the six wheel main landing gear.
The demonstration aircraft supports 36 Zodiac economy plus class seats with a pitch of 34 inches in a 3-3-3 layout. There are also 219 superb economy class seats in the same layout formation, with only 2 inches less pitch and a fantastic 18 inches of width.