A350 Deliveries and Routes

[SQ380]

From the grapevine:

SQ will take delivery of its first A350 sometime after CNY. Inaugural flight will be to HKG....

Oh? So it will be this week? Heard that it will be likely slated for delivery on February 29th, with short haul KUL and CGK turnarounds for crew familiarization. How did HKG get into the picture all of a sudden?

[Metropolitan Airlines]

From the grapevine:

SQ will take delivery of its first A350 sometime after CNY. Inaugural flight will be to HKG....

I hope I can catch it.

[SQKevin]

Second Flight for 9V-SMA today.

[leops1984]

Flight #3 by 9V-SMA on Monday.

AIB03FU 15/2/2016 by A380_TLS_A350, on Flickr

TAC is still scheduled for February 26.

[SQ380]

Flight #3 by 9V-SMA on Monday.

AIB03FU 15/2/2016 by A380_TLS_A350, on Flickr

TAC is still scheduled for February 26.

What is "TAC"? Is February 26th delivery for SMA confirmed? Any timing known for departure from Toulouse, and arrival into Singapore? Confirmed that there are no plans for HKG as it is too long a flight for crew familiarisation. It will be deployed on KUL and CGK sectors before the AMS inaugural launch.

[leops1984]

TAC = Technical Acceptance (by) Customer. That's when the airline agrees that the plane has met the agreed-upon specifications and the final steps of delivery can take place (i.e., final payments and transfer of title).

Actual delivery follows TAC pretty quickly (1-2 days).

[SQ380]

TAC = Technical Acceptance (by) Customer. That's when the airline agrees that the plane has met the agreed-upon specifications and the final steps of delivery can take place (i.e., final payments and transfer of title).

Actual delivery follows TAC pretty quickly (1-2 days).

Thanks!! So I guess all stars are aligned for the delivery flight ex-Toulouse on 28 February..... ✈️🇸🇬 Not sure of departure and arrival timings though. Anyone knows?

[SQ228]

Confirmed that there are no plans for HKG as it is too long a flight for crew familiarisation. It will be deployed on KUL and CGK sectors before the AMS inaugural launch.

Yes, I don't think many of us held much faith in that bizarre single-sourced unsubstantiated rumour...

[SQKevin]

9V-SMA is currently parked at the Delivery Centre. An earlier TAC or is she just temporarily parked there?

[leops1984]

9V-SMA is currently parked at the Delivery Centre. An earlier TAC or is she just temporarily parked there?

Standard procedure - they'll move it to the Delivery Center a few days before TAC. It's started the delivery process, but it'll still be some time before TAC.

Also, SMA probably still needs to do one or two more test flights before delivery. It's only done three test flights. The fewest number of test flights before delivery so far has been four, and the first delivery for a new customer seems to take more flights than succeeding ones.

The move to the Delivery Center probably means the Airbus test flights are done, and it's now time for the customer (SQ) acceptance flights.

[shikhargpt]

Confirmed 3 March delivery.

http://www.ausbt.com.au/singapore-ai...ery-on-march-2

Singapore Airlines will take delivery of its first Airbus A350-900 on March 2, ahead of inaugural flights in Asia and to Europe.
The advanced jet will arrive in Singapore's Changi Airport on Thursday March 3 as the centrepiece of a wide-reaching fleet upgrade for Singapore Airlines, with 63 firm orders and options to buy 20 more.
Inaugural A350 commercial services will make short hops from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta for the purposes of crew familiarisation with the all-new aircraft, before spreading its wings onto the 13 hour Singapore-Amsterdam route in June.
Düsseldorf will follow with three A350 flights a week from July 21, 2016.
The airline expects to have ten A350 jets in its fleet by April in a long-range configuration of 42 business class seats using SQ's latest design, plus 24 seats in premium economy and 187 in economy.
However, that first tranche of A350s will be followed by a wave of 'medium-range' models from 2017 with less emphasis on premium seating, which will eventually replace all of Singapore Airlines' A330s on flights of up to eight hours, including most SQ services into Australia.

[leops1984]

I wonder if the medium-range A350s will use the same J seats as the long-haul planes or use a denser seat...

[arrow29]

I wonder if the medium-range A350s will use the same J seats as the long-haul planes or use a denser seat...

I was wondering the same thing - would be nice to know, as they'll no doubt end up being put on the PER-SIN route eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later!).

Addit: Found this article from a little while back. http://www.ausbt.com.au/singapore-ai...m-range-config

"Singapore Airlines is also considering if some of the medium-range A350s might sport the airline's next-generation business class, due in 2017 for the Airbus A380 and in 2018 for the ultra-long range A350.
"We will see a new product for the A380, so for the medium-haul A350 either we go with the same generation (as today) or we may even have some that go to the new product," Tan suggests. "We have to see which markets we are serving, where we will see one configuration or even two."

[shikhargpt]

Another shot from the third flight:

[SQ228]

Some of the information in that article is specific and is clearly legitimate, but after the mention of Düsseldorf it gets a little vague. Ten jets by April? Really???