Air India’s Airbus A350 Takes First Ferry Flight From Singapore To Toulouse

Air India’s first Airbus A350 aircraft is crisscrossing the world as it flew from Asia to Europe before it joins the carrier’s fleet. The airline’s first A350 has been seen multiple times by plane spotters at the Airbus facilities in Toulouse, France, with Air India itself unveiling the aircraft in new livery last month.

Ferry flight

Air India has big plans for its Airbus A350 aircraft. The airline intends to deploy it on some of its long-haul routes, making good use of the aircraft’s long range and better fuel economics. And we recently got a glimpse of what such a flight would look like as the aircraft carried out a ferry flight all the way from Singapore to Toulouse in France.

This isn’t the first time the aircraft has been spotted before its eventual induction into the Air India fleet. Simple Flying has been tracking its journey in the last few months and reported when it took its maiden flight in August.

Back then, the A350 had a completely white fuselage and took a flight lasting nearly three hours over the Bay of Biscay, La Rochelle, and Bordeaux before eventually landing in Toulouse.

Then, in October, Air India revealed the first look of the plane after its paint job in Toulouse, with the A350 sporting the brand-new Air India livery. It was essentially a teaser by the airline before it formally accepts it into its fleet in the coming weeks.

More widebodies on their way

Air India currently has 470 planes on order from both Boeing and Airbus. Of these, 70 are widebody planes, including 40 Airbus A350 planes. By December, Air India will receive its first A350, and in a few months after that, five more A350s are expected to join its fleet. These six aircraft were initially meant to go to Russia’s Aeroflot.

Photo: Air India

Air India has gone on a widebody shopping spree in the last year, acquiring several Boeing 777s on lease that once flew for airlines such as Delta Air Lines and Etihad. This has allowed it to immediately expand some of its North American operations. Once the A350s start to trickle in, Air India will further consolidate its international presence.

Expanding network

All these new planes, along with those that have been fixed and ungrounded, mean that Air India can expand its network significantly. The airline plans to add more than 400 weekly flights to its network until March next year, covering popular domestic and international destinations.

Photo: Rahul Sapra | Shutterstock

It has already increased capacity for North American and European routes and is also strategizing to better serve the premium domestic trunk routes. In all, Air India is expected to add 200 flights each to both domestic and international networks, and the recently spotted A350 will likely play a significant role in that.

What are your views on this? Please leave a comment below.