Qatar Airways has announced that London is the first route for the world’s first commercial service of its Airbus A350-1000. The Gulf carrier is the global launch customer for the state-of-the-art-aircraft, following delivery by Airbus from the aircraft manufacturer’s base in Toulouse, France last Tuesday.

The A350-1000 has embarked on a three-week demonstration tour to the Middle-East and Asia-Pacific regions. The tour follows the completion of a successful flight test campaign, which lasted less than one year and culminated in joint EASA and FAA type certification.

Following an intensive flight test campaign performed in less than a year, the A350-1000 has received type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The A350-1000, the newest member of Airbus’ leading wide-body family, has successfully completed its functional and reliability testing. The news brings the aircraft a step closer to type certification, which will hopefully be secured this month.

Delta Air Lines has scheduled its flagship A350-900 aircraft on one of four daily flights between Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. The new route will launch on March 31st next year.

Hong Kong Airlines has taken delivery of its first A350-900, on lease from AerCap, making the carrier the 15th airline to operate the world’s newest and most efficient twin aisle airliner. Altogether Hong Kong Airlines will acquire 21 Airbus A350 XWB, including 15 purchased directly from Airbus and six on lease from third party lessors.