A350 Deliveries and Routes

[shikhargpt]

9V-SL* is already in use by SilkAir on their A320 fleet

Oh shit brain fart paiseh haha!

[shikhargpt]

Another shot of SMA rotating for its first flight:

[shikhargpt]

Wahow, triple posted the image above. Damn. Sorry, I blame my shitty M1 "1 Gbps" connection. Keeps on timing out on all webpages. To make up for it, here's two more photos from yesterday's first flight (not mine, of course, by Clement Alloing on Flickr).

[shikhargpt]

[leops1984]

The A350 is a really good looking airplane. It's good enough to forgive Airbus for the monstrosity that is the A380...

[SMARTDODO]

Sorry for the off-topic question, but does anyone know why the flag is always painted in reverse?

[SQ217]

Sorry for the off-topic question, but does anyone know why the flag is always painted in reverse?

Only on the right hand side of the aircraft, so it looks like it is flying in the correct direction relative to the movement of the aircraft.

[SQKevin]

Sorry for the off-topic question, but does anyone know why the flag is always painted in reverse?

Here is the answer provided by Stephen Forshaw, Vice President Public Affairs of Singapore Airlines some time ago.

"...the depiction of flags by airlines on the exterior of the aircraft has it origins in shipping, where the ensign of the country is flown off the stern of the ship.

In shipping, as in aviation, precedence cannot be established as it would on land by flying a flag from the tallest point, so the stern (or in the case of an aircraft, to the rear of the insignia) conveys precedence (ie shows the country of origin).

According to flag etiquette, which again traces its origins back to shipping – and was reaffirmed in the earliest days of commercial aviation – a national flag should never be seen to be travelling backwards.

If the flag were replicated on the starboard side of the aircraft as it is on the port side, when the aircraft is travelling forwards, the flag would, then, be flying backwards.

From the port side of the aircraft, the flag is viewed as you would expect to see it flying on a flagpost, and when the aircraft is flying, it will fly as it would on a flagpost in the breeze – with the five stars and moon leading, and the red and white sections following."

[SQKevin]

wow, beautiful !
Is SMA already fitted with a cabin interiors ?
Anyone knows when the charter flight would be ? Would SQ communicate on this ? I remember in 2007, CNA had live coverage of the A380 landing (SQ was the launch client, not quite the same as today though)...

Cabin interiors have been fitted. Delivery of 9V-SMA is indicated as 23 February based on the usual production sites.

However, the official Airbus news release indicates this to be in the coming weeks.

[kaiser]

Keep the SQ A350 porn coming - I need something to look forward to for a (possible) flight in April

[Spaniard]

She's a total beauty. If the 747 was nicknamed the Queen of the Skies this one is certainly deserving to be the Princess!. Sheer elegance!

[SQfanatic]

Congrats to SQ and their A350. Besides the familiarization flights to KUL, and Dusseldorf in July, I'm sure this looks like a great backbone to replace all the A330's (At the moment, I don't think many A330's left the fleet).

Can't wait for the day it starts flying to India (Like Chennai, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad). It would be a good mix of experiencing longhaul products on both legs but with different aircraft for once (Unless I don't end up flying MI completely to TRV, and not fly out from anywhere else to SIN). As for US routes, the only route I feel could get the A350 is IAH (via DME). SFO could still stick around with 77WN/77WR as some are still relatively new anyway.

[milehighj]

As for US routes, the only route I feel could get the A350 is IAH (via DME). SFO could still stick around with 77WN/77WR as some are still relatively new anyway.

[SQ228]

The A350 is a really good looking airplane. It's good enough to forgive Airbus for the monstrosity that is the A380...

My thoughts exactly!

[leops1984]

The A350 is slightly smaller than the 77W, so sending the A350 on an existing 77W route would result in less capacity. Loads on that route are pretty good, so sending the A350 wouldn't be a good idea.

The A350 works best on routes where you need the range of a 77W, but not as much capacity. With the fall in price of oil, loads on the IAH-DME flight are probably not good, so it would be a good idea to downsize that flight to an A350.