Qatar Airways and Airbus has announced the highly anticipated official delivery of the first of its 80 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft on order, will take place in Toulouse, France, on Saturday.

The A350 XWB is a family of mid-sized wide-body airliners designed to enhance fuel, operating costs and environmental efficiencies during medium-to-long haul airline operations and features the very latest in aerodynamics, design and advanced technologies.

The first commercial service will be deployed on the Frankfurt route from January 2015.

Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar Al Baker said: “The delivery of our first A350 XWB aircraft, as global launch customer, is a highly anticipated event in the relatively young history of Qatar Airways and the second significant fleet milestone for our airline, having recently taken delivery of our A380 aircraft.

“Qatar Airways is committed to offering our passengers the very best five-star experience when it comes to travelling, not only in terms of the custom-built comfort features across all of our cabins and the service on board, but with the investment and expansion of our modern fleet.

“The arrival of this new generation of aircraft type represents a moment of great symbolic national pride for the State of Qatar, and I know its delivery will be met with excitement at its new home Hamad International Airport, which was built for advanced aircraft types such as this.”

The introduction of the A350 XWB into service will signal a new frontier in aviation history as this will be a brand new aircraft type projected for the industry for the next decade.

Over 70 per cent of the A350 XWB’s weight-efficient airframe is made from advanced materials combining composites (53 per cent), titanium and advanced aluminium alloys.

The aircraft’s innovative all-new Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic fuselage results in lower fuel burn as well as easier maintenance.

Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 17 years of operation, to the point where today it is flying a modern fleet of 142 aircraft to 145 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.