Qatar Airways Gets the World's First A350-1000
Tuesday was a big day for Qatar Airways and Airbus. The European aircraft manufacturer handed over the first A350-1000 to Qatar Airways today at a ceremony in Toulouse, France.
The aircraft is Airbus' newest twin-aisle jet, and Qatar Airways had already been the launch customer for the shorter -900 version, in 2015. The first route for the new jet will be between Doha (DOH) and London Heathrow (LHR) with the inaugural commercial flight taking off on Saturday, February 24. Qatar CEO Akbar Al Baker said that the -1000 will soon begin service to the US East Coast.
The A350-1000 joins 23 A350-900s in Qatar's fleet. The Doha-based carrier has a total of 37 A350-1000s on order, more than anyone else.
With a fuselage that's 23 feet longer than the A350-900's, the new aircraft seats 327 passengers in Qatar's configuration compared to 283 for the smaller version. Along with improvements on the passenger experience side, the A350-1000 is equipped with more powerful Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines, and is more fuel-efficient, in terms of fuel burn per passenger, than the -900, with which it shares a lightweight carbon-fiber airframe. Airbus claims the -1000 is 25% more efficient than its main competitor, the Boeing 777-300ER, which is slightly larger.
This will be the first Airbus aircraft that's equipped with Qatar's new QSuite business class seats, which was previously only featured on the carrier's 777-300ER. The A350-1000 can hold well more than 400 passengers in an all-economy layout, although Qatar has arranged the aircraft with far fewer seats than that — and in just two classes, business and economy, with no first or premium economy.
The business class cabin is furnished with 46 Qsuites seats in a 1-2-1 layout, all allowing for direct aisle access. The back of the aircraft with feature 281 economy seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. Thankfully, booking Qatar QSuites with points is possible and will run you just 42,500 American miles for a one-way flight on the London-Doha route.
Airbus shared a video on the making of the first aircraft.
Qatar is considering upgrading some of its current A350-900 orders to the -1000 model."There is a possibility that we could convert some of the 900s to the 1000," CEO Al Baker said. The -1000s have a list price of $367 million and Qatar has a total of 76 aircraft from the A350 family on order.
Image by Qatar Airways / YouTube.
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The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
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- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month