Background
Cathay Pacific’s first Airbus A350-1000 aircraft landed in Hong Kong on Wednesday, making the Hong Kong carrier only the second airline to take delivery of Airbus’s newest aircraft.
The aircraft joins Cathay Pacific’s current fleet of 22 A350-900s – it has a total of 20 A350-1000s on order, which are expected to be delivered by 2021, and a further six A350-900s still to come.
The A350-1000 will debut on Cathay Pacific’s upcoming Washington DC route on September 15, followed by Madrid (from October 28), Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, Manchester and Zurich. Before then, however, it will fly Cathay Pacific’s Taipei route for crew familiarisation purposes starting July 1, giving travellers the ability to experience the new aircraft before its formal debut in September.
Business Traveller Asia-Pacific was on-board the delivery flight of Cathay Pacific’s first A350-1000 from the Airbus airfield in Toulouse to Hong Kong earlier this week.
What’s it like?
The A350-1000 is a larger aircraft than its predecessor, both in length and in capacity. The newer variant has a total of 334 seats, comprising 46 in business class, 32 in premium economy and 256 in economy.
As with its predecessor, this is an aircraft designed to be quiet. While the aircraft’s engines do make a noticeable high-pitched whirr during takeoff, they are largely muted once the aircraft gets sufficient altitude.
This is further helped in business class by the longer length of the A350-1000 compared to its predecessor, which pushes the wings (and therefore the engines) further down the aircraft and away from the premium cabin.
Cathay Pacific has also been outfitting its entire wide-body fleet with wifi – it currently offers it on all A350-900s and progressively on retrofitted B777s – and the A350-1000 is no exception.