Airbus Unveils New Livery on Second A350-1000 Test Aircraft

The second Airbus A350-1000 flight test aircraft -- the first to be equipped with a full passenger cabin -- was displayed Sep. 23 in a new carbon fiber-themed livery outside the manufacturer's paint shop in Toulouse, France.

According to Airbus, the livery is inspired by the advanced composites technology incorporated in over 50% of the A350 XWB airframe.
As part of the aircraft's certification campaign, Airbus will perform cabin and air systems tests on the test -1000 version. Early long flights and route proving evaluations will get underway in 2017, Airbus said.

The A350-1000 has the longest fuselage of Airbus' A350 XWB family and seats 366 passengers. As of Aug. 30, 195 A350-1000 aircraft are on order; customers include Guadeloupe-based Air Caraibes (three on order), Los Angeles-based Air Lease Corp. (nine on order), South Korea-based Asiana Airlines (10), British Airways (18), Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Air (26), Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways (22), Japan Airlines (13), Chile-based LATAM Airlines Group (14), launch customer Qatar Airways (37), Chicago-based United Airlines (35) and UK-based Virgin Atlantic (eight).Mark Nensel, 

ATW Daily News