In just under a year, the Airbus A350-1000 went from first flight to type certification. Using three test aircraft, Airbus flew throughout Europe and visited North and South America and Asia to complete the necessary flights and tests. We’ve put together a visualization showing some of the A350-1000’s flight test program as it built hours toward certification.

362 days to certification

Red: F-WMIL | Blue: F-WLXV  | Yellow: F-WWXL

First flights

The A350-1000 first took flight on 24 November 2016, with MSN 059 | F-WMIL spending 4 hours 20 minutes in the skies above France.

MSN 071 | F-WWXL flew next on 10 January 2017 and MSN 065 | F-WLXV made first flight 1 month later, taking off on 7 February.

Milestones

We checked in on the program in late February.

And Airbus performed its first long flight passenger tests on 11 May when F-WLXV flew around Europe with a full complement of passengers and crew.

Certification

The A350-1000 received type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency and Federal Aviation Administration on 21 November 2017, paving the way for delivery of the first aircraft to launch customer Qatar Airways later this year.