Taipei, Jan. 27 (CNA) The A350-1000, the newest member of Airbus' wide-body aircraft family, will arrive in Taiwan next week on a demonstration tour around the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, the European aircraft conglomerate said Saturday.
Industry sources told CNA that China Airlines, one of Taiwan's two major international carriers, and StarLux, a carrier being planned by former EVA Airways Chairman Chang Kuo-wei, are the potential buyers of the new aircraft.
According to Airbus, Taipei is one of the 12 stops on the A350-1000's three-week demonstration tour, which began Friday. The aircraft is scheduled to touch down at Taoyuan International Airport on Jan. 31 after a stop in Seoul.
Airbus said the A350-1000 test aircraft is scheduled to fly in the air over Taiwan for an hour on the afternoon of Feb. 1 before departing for Vietnam and then Singapore to take part in the Singapore Airshow 2018 from Feb. 6 to 8.
The A350-1000 test aircraft is equipped with a fully functional cabin, consisting of 40 business class, 36 economy plus, and 219 economy class seats, Airbus said.
The demonstration flights during the tour will be operated by Airbus flight test crews, the company said.
The A350-1000 measures nearly 74 meters from nose-to-tail, the longest-fuselage version of Airbus' all-new family of twin-aisle, wide-body jetliners and about seven meters longer than its predecessor, the A350-900, Airbus said.
It has an extra 50 seats in the economy class cabin, and is equipped with more powerful and higher-thrust Trent XWB engines from manufacturer Rolls-Royce, the company said.
Industry sources said Airbus has invited CAL, EVA Air and Starlux to visit the test A350-1000 when it is in Taiwan.
CAL bought 14 A350-900s in 2008 with an option for six more, and it is considering whether to convert the six optional aircraft to the A350-1000s. It has until the end of the year to decide, perhaps why Airbus sees CAL as the new aircraft's most likely buyer in Taiwan.
As for Starlux, the preparatory office of the carrier is mulling the possibility of buying A350-1000s or Boeing 777Xs for its future operations, while EVA Air said it has no immediate plans to purchase new airplanes.
Airbus has received orders for about 200 A350-1000s from carriers such as Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Asiana Airlines and Japan Airlines.
