CX To Take Delivery Of 1st A359 On 27 May 2016

qf789 · Tue May 17, 2016 10:35 am

CX will take delivery of first A350-900 on Friday 27th of May 2016.

The aircraft will enter service on 1st June 2016 as CX907 to MNL

http://www.ausbt.com.au/cathay-pacif...ts-its-first-airbus-a350-on-may-27

shengzhurou · Tue May 17, 2016 10:46 am

congratulations to CX , after three months or more delay with the new seats, will they catch up to original delivery schedule? 11-12 A359 for 2016 expansions or old aircraft replacement?

[Edited 2016-05-17 03:46:40]

hkcanadaexpat · Tue May 17, 2016 10:52 am

Quoting shengzhurou (Reply 1):
will they catch up to original delivery schedule? 11-12 A359 for 2016 expansions or old aircraft replacement?

that's the plan! Airbus will have 12 built and ready to go this year. whether zodiac plays along is another story.... CX recently said that its going to be 1 per month for the first 3 aircraft and then accelerating as Zodiac catches up. we'll see!
A

zeke · Tue May 17, 2016 11:13 am

There are still 4 seats that are not certified, they will just be blocked out until the pile of paperwork exceeds the size of the issue.

United Airline · Tue May 17, 2016 11:27 am

From what I heard none of the A350-900 will be equipped with first class. What about the A350-1000?

zeke · Tue May 17, 2016 11:41 am

Quoting United Airline (Reply 4):
From what I heard none of the A350-900 will be equipped with first class. What about the A350-1000?

Never say never, there are 4 class arrangements that have been looked at. I doubt any of the early deliveries will have that configuration as their roles are pretty well much been defined. As the airline gets to know the airframe anything can happen. It would make a lot of sense to replace a 4 class 777 with a 4 class A350 on some routes.

trex8 · Tue May 17, 2016 11:41 am

Quoting zeke (Reply 3):
There are still 4 seats that are not certified, they will just be blocked out until the pile of paperwork exceeds the size of the issue.

Whats so special about those 4 particular seats.

zeke · Tue May 17, 2016 11:51 am

Quoting trex8 (Reply 6):

Nothing in particular, just last ones on the list. It would have resulted in further delays to wait on the paperwork. With the new schedule we can move up the A340/744 retirement.

StTim · Tue May 17, 2016 11:56 am

So all they are waiting for is the production documentation to prove they are manufactured against the certified specification.

zeke · Tue May 17, 2016 12:11 pm

Quoting StTim (Reply 8):

That is conjecture, the nature of the paperwork has not been released.

zkojq · Tue May 17, 2016 1:48 pm

Does the airline have enough pilots lined up to crew it?

zeke · Tue May 17, 2016 2:57 pm

Quoting ZKOJQ (Reply 10):

Enough have been trained already to crew 12 aircraft, that should double be year end. Can comfortably train two aircraft worth a month. All we are waiting on is for the aircraft to turn up then the last stage of the training will be complete. They will see lots of regional sectors to start with.

col · Tue May 17, 2016 3:14 pm

I will be sad to see the 340/747 go. The 340 into KUL is a nice quiet and smooth ride. If you are going to replace it with anything, then the 350 is very quiet too, typical of an Airbus. CX have my permission to use it from KUL and then onto MAN

bobdino · Tue May 17, 2016 3:17 pm

Quoting zeke (Reply 7):
Nothing in particular, just last ones on the list. It would have resulted in further delays to wait on the paperwork. With the new schedule we can move up the A340/744 retirement.

Apologies for the dumb question: is it four seats positions within the CX A350 layout that haven't yet received certification, or 4 individual seats within the first A350 to be delivered?

zeke · Tue May 17, 2016 4:59 pm

Quoting bobdino (Reply 13):
Apologies for the dumb question: is it four seats positions within the CX A350 layout that haven't yet received certification, or 4 individual seats within the first A350 to be delivered?

Yes to both

zkojq · Tue May 17, 2016 9:12 pm

Quoting zeke (Reply 11):
Enough have been trained already to crew 12 aircraft, that should double be year end. Can comfortably train two aircraft worth a month.

Quoting zeke (Reply 14):

Ah ok. All the best for A350 ops. I look forward to seeing one in Auckland in the not too distant future.

CX711 · Wed May 18, 2016 1:09 am

Another simple question:

IIRC, the first flight of CX's #1 took place at about the same time as SQ's #2, yet the SQ plane has been delivered and in service for several weeks. Does the first 350 for a particular airline take longer to test before delivery? Why is that so? How many test flights do they do before a plane is delivered, typically?

Thanks,

dank · Wed May 18, 2016 1:34 am

Quoting CX711 (Reply 16):

Another simple question:

IIRC, the first flight of CX's #1 took place at about the same time as SQ's #2, yet the SQ plane has been delivered and in service for several weeks. Does the first 350 for a particular airline take longer to test before delivery? Why is that so? How many test flights do they do before a plane is delivered, typically?

Thanks,

See above, it's about CX getting deliver of and the paperwork complete on their seating.

a36001 · Wed May 18, 2016 2:11 am

This is great news! I am travelling to Korea and Taiwan in late October this year, does anyone know if the A350 will be used on these routes. OMG I hope so! FYI my route is SYD>HKG>ICN>TPE>HKG>SYD...anyone know???

CX Flyboy · Wed May 18, 2016 2:48 am

Quoting CX711 (Reply 16):
Does the first 350 for a particular airline take longer to test before delivery?

Many of the business class seats had failed tests and had to be redesigned. Cathay is the first customer to go for this version of the seat by Zodiac and there have been some changes recently in EASA rules about seat requirements which complicated things. Cathay was due to receive the first A350 in Feb '16 and it is only now that they have decided to take the aircraft even though not all seats are ready to be occupied by passengers.

blrsea · Wed May 18, 2016 3:01 am

Quoting CX Flyboy (Reply 19):
Many of the business class seats had failed tests and had to be redesigned. Cathay is the first customer to go for this version of the seat by Zodiac and there have been some changes recently in EASA rules about seat requirements which complicated things. Cathay was due to receive the first A350 in Feb '16 and it is only now that they have decided to take the aircraft even though not all seats are ready to be occupied by passengers.

When delays happen due to vendors, will there be any compensation etc for the airlines? Do airlines directly sign agreements with vendors for seats, IFEs etc or do they just deal through Airbus/Boeing ?

zeke · Wed May 18, 2016 12:53 pm

Quoting CX711 (Reply 16):
Why is that so?

To a person outside the industry this must seem bizarre, the cabin is not made up of one seat, there are many small differences between them. Every time there is a difference you are basically looking at a new part number. There are seats that are common, and there are ones that are differ like the ones at each end of the cabin that adjoin bulkheads or storage space.

However in reality the business seats have more differences, the certification needs to be done for each part number. The economy cabin is easier as you have common rows of seats (they are also a different supplier to the business class), where you have seats near a door, bulkhead, galley often these will have a different part number. With the business seats we are also talking about two suppliers, one for the seat, and one for the two different airbag systems.

KFlyer · Wed May 18, 2016 3:18 pm

What is the seat being used by CX on BC? Cirrus?

zeke · Wed May 18, 2016 3:32 pm

Quoting KFlyer (Reply 22):
What is the seat being used by CX on BC? Cirrus?

In the cabin and in the toilet Zodiac

BreninTW · Thu May 19, 2016 12:43 am

Zeke (and anyone else) -- can you give an idea of when the A350 will be seen in TPE?

zeke · Thu May 19, 2016 4:12 am

Quoting BreninTW (Reply 24):

In short order, it will be bouncing about BKK, MNL, TPE, KIX, SIN, SGN etc for training

CX711 · Thu May 19, 2016 9:31 am

Quoting zeke (Reply 21):
To a person outside the industry this must seem bizarre, the cabin is not made up of one seat, there are many small differences between them.

Thanks, Zeke. It makes sense after you have explained it. I guess it also means that every time there is a different layout in the cabin eg 3 class to 4 class, the certification process will be prolonged again.

KarelXWB · Wed May 25, 2016 1:37 pm

Quoting United Airline (Reply 4):
From what I heard none of the A350-900 will be equipped with first class. What about the A350-1000?

There will be no first class on the A350-1000.

Cathay Pacific confirms "no first class" for Airbus A350-1000

zeke · Wed May 25, 2016 1:41 pm

Quoting KarelXWB (Reply 27):

Never say never

they will be around a lot longer than the people that made those comments. The market and routes change.

qf789 · Sat May 28, 2016 1:56 pm

Delivery flight of 1st A359 for CX - CX3350

http://www.flightradar24.com/CPA3350/9d9e157

seat64k · Sat May 28, 2016 3:55 pm

Now the important question: What's the best place to spot the landing from?

bobdino · Sat May 28, 2016 5:14 pm

Quoting zeke (Reply 21):
To a person outside the industry this must seem bizarre, the cabin is not made up of one seat, there are many small differences between them.

Makes total sense - thanks.

777Jet · Sun May 29, 2016 1:53 am

Quoting a36001 (Reply 18):
This is great news! I am travelling to Korea and Taiwan in late October this year, does anyone know if the A350 will be used on these routes. OMG I hope so! FYI my route is SYD>HKG>ICN>TPE>HKG>SYD...anyone know???

I changed a few of my upcoming flights between HKG-BKK on CX to A350-900 metal

I'm just hoping the flights go according to schedule...

VCEflyboy · Sun May 29, 2016 7:21 pm

The original plan was (after regional familiarization flights) AKL.
This was stated very clearly and publicly by the top.
Now it seems to be all over the map: Barcelona, Dusseldorf, Milan and Zurich.
Have yields at AKL been eroded by EK / QR and the Chinese airlines?

zkncj · Sun May 29, 2016 7:32 pm

Quoting VCEflyboy (Reply 33):

The original plan was (after regional familiarization flights) AKL.
This was stated very clearly and publicly by the top.
Now it seems to be all over the map: Barcelona, Dusseldorf, Milan and Zurich.
Have yields at AKL been eroded by EK / QR and the Chinese airlines?

AKL typically goes 77W over the Northern Winter period, so probably no point putting the 350 on the route for a short period then swapping it out to the 350. I would say its more likely to now change from around March 2017.

CX Flyboy · Mon May 30, 2016 3:59 am

Quoting VCEflyboy (Reply 33):
The original plan was (after regional familiarization flights) AKL.
This was stated very clearly and publicly by the top.
Now it seems to be all over the map: Barcelona, Dusseldorf, Milan and Zurich.
Have yields at AKL been eroded by EK / QR and the Chinese airlines?

I think its more the case of if the A350 arrived in February as planned, it would have done regional then AKL, then LGW and DUS in Autumn. Now that it has only just arrived, it has LGW to do.

zeke · Mon May 30, 2016 4:40 am

Given the A340s are due to stick around until 2017/Q2 I think AKL and the A350 is a while away.

KarelXWB · Mon May 30, 2016 9:34 am

Four business class are currently blocked off:

Quote:
4 #A350Cathay business class seats in front row cannot – yet – be occupied during takeoff and landing

Source http://twitter.com/winglets747/status/737213425449848832

KarelXWB · Mon May 30, 2016 11:26 am

Several photos of the economy class cabin:

http://twitter.com/AirwaysNews

KarelXWB · Mon May 30, 2016 11:46 am

And a seat map:

http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_H...t-fleet/a350-900/a350-900-35g.html

qf002 · Mon May 30, 2016 11:51 am

Official photos of the new seats have been released -- http://www.ausbt.com.au/inside-cathay-pacific-s-all-new-airbus-a350

zkojq · Mon May 30, 2016 4:36 pm

Quoting zkncj (Reply 34):
AKL typically goes 77W over the Northern Winter period

Typically? Isn't this year the first that they've sent them here?

Quoting zeke (Reply 36):
Given the A340s are due to stick around until 2017/Q2 I think AKL and the A350 is a while away.

Somewhat relevant question: why is B-HXG not being sent on any long haul routes? It hasn't visited Auckland for months and currently it seems to only be doing missions to TPE, MNL, KUL, KIX and BKK. Any insights on what's going on?

zeke · Mon May 30, 2016 5:33 pm

Quoting ZKOJQ (Reply 41):
Somewhat relevant question: why is B-HXG not being sent on any long haul routes? It hasn't visited Auckland for months and currently it seems to only be doing missions to TPE, MNL, KUL, KIX and BKK. Any insights on what's going on?

From an engineering point of view I cannot see a reason. The current back-end contract for the airframe is not privy to me, it just may mean that it has had a very high sector to flight hour ratio for that airframe which makes it the best pick to do those flights.

zkncj · Mon May 30, 2016 6:45 pm

Quoting ZKOJQ (Reply 41):
Typically? Isn't this year the first that they've sent them here?

They did it the previous year as well, and then the couple years before that they would sub the 343 for the 744.

CX Flyboy · Tue May 31, 2016 6:09 am

Quoting zkncj (Reply 43):
Quoting ZKOJQ (Reply 41):
Typically? Isn't this year the first that they've sent them here?

They did it the previous year as well, and then the couple years before that they would sub the 343 for the 744.

No this just did it the last winter period. First time the CX 777 has been to AKL.

trex8 · Tue May 31, 2016 6:14 am

Quoting qf002 (Reply 40):
Official photos of the new seats have been released -- http://www.ausbt.com.au/inside-cathay-pacific-s-all-new-airbus-a350

2-4-2 PE?? Even CI has 2-3-2 coming on their A359.

CHCalfonzo · Tue May 31, 2016 1:15 pm

Quoting zeke (Reply 36):

Schedule for Dec 16 has CX117 operated by A350 and CX197 by B77W again.

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