1st Cathay A350 to start Final Assembly phase in coming weeks.

With less than 10 months to go before entry into service, production of Cathay’s first A350 is about to move into full swing. 

The major sections of the MSN29 aircraft are being completed at various sites across Europe, ie. St. Nazaire and Hamburg pre-FALs.

The main fuselage sections are set to commence shipping to Toulouse this month for final assembly.

Once on the final assembly line at the Airbus factory, the fuselage, wing and tail sections will be joined together, and by July the aircraft should be ready for its first electrical power-up.

System checks will follow together with the installation of the 2 Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines and the cabin interior.


Aircraft painting is planned for November and the first test flight scheduled for December.

“The customer delivery phase will commence in February 2016 when the Cathay aircraft acceptance team will travel to Toulouse to perform a series of formal acceptance procedures, including test-flying the aircraft,” said Engineering’s Bob Taylor Head of A350 Project.

All pictures. Source: Cathay

Based on the press release "Final assembly of first Cathay A350 begins in Toulouse this month"