Qatar Airwairs gets world’s first commercial Airbus A350

TOULOUSE, France, Dec. 22 (UPI) — Airbus Group NV delivered the world’s first commercial use A350 to Qatar Airways Monday at the aerospace manufacturer’s France headquarters.

“It is more than a great day for Airbus,” Fabrice Bregier, Airbus’ CEO, told a press conference, USA Today reported.

“I would say it was an historic day.”

The debut of the Airbus A350 marks the first new major aircraft model since American aerospace manufacturer Boeing rolled out the 787 Dreamliner in 2011.

Built to compete with the 787 and Boeing’s slightly smaller 777, Airbus says it has already received nearly 800 orders for the A350. Despite Boeing’s three-year head start on the Airbus — since 2011 Boeing delivered over 200 787s for commercial and private use — roughly 80 percent of its current orders are backlogged and unfulfilled, a an opening Airbus hopes to capitalize on.

View from the flight deck of the @qatarairways airbus #A350 following the press flight pic.twitter.com/86Us3WGIbE— AirwaysNews (@AirwaysNews) December 22, 2014

“We want our aircraft as soon as possible because we have a fleet replacement program,” Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker told Bloomberg.

“If I can get it yesterday, I would be delighted.”

With 25 percent better fuel efficiency than a 777, the Airbus can travel from its home port in Doha to almost every major hub in the world. It’s first route will be once daily to-and-from Frankfurt.