It’s finally happened: Qatar Airways has taken delivery of its first new Airbus aircraft in approximately two and a half years. This notable delivery flight took place on May 12th with an A350-1000 flying from Toulouse to Doha. The aircraft is Qatar Airways’ 20th A350-1000 and 54th A350 overall.
Aircraft and delivery flight details
As per FlightRadar24.com data, the aircraft registered A7-ANT departed from Toulouse (TLS) on May 12th at 21:29. An overnight flight designated QR3181, the aircraft landed at Qatar Airways’ home base of Doha Hamad International (DOH) at 04:21 on May 13th. The total duration of this delivery flight was five hours and 52 minutes.
Aviation Flights data notes that, prior to delivery, the A350-1000 with manufacturer’s serial number (MSN 430) had conducted 11 flights with nearly 16 hours of flight time. Considering the fact that this aircraft was first spotted in March 2020 and had its first test flight in November 2021, it’s clear that not all of its pre-delivery flights were actual test flights. Some flights included in the count took the aircraft into (and out of) storage at Châteauroux-Centre “Marcel Dassault” Airport (CHS), while there were other periodic flights conducted just to keep the airframe in good working order.
