On Thursday, October 31, Qatar Airways commenced A350-1000 operations into Australia.
Operating as QR906, this is a daily service operated by the Doha-based carrier flying from the Qatari capital city to Canberra via Sydney. It returns to Doha via its reciprocal route as QR907. The aircraft used for the inaugural service, A7-ANJ, is their newest A350-1000. She has been in service for just over one month.
Designed by European manufacturer Airbus Industrie, Qatar Airways is the launch customer for the A350-1000 and was also the launch customer for the A350 family, commencing revenue operations with the A350-900 in January 2014. The airline currently has 10 of 42 A350-1000 aircraft in service, in addition to 40 of the A350-900 (two of these are currently leased to LATAM Brasil).
While sporting a quieter, larger and ultra-modern cabin for 327 passengers with 46 award-winning QSuite Business Class seats and 281 Economy seats in a 3-3-3 configuration, the A350-1000 and represents a reduction in capacity on the route. The previous aircraft operating this service, the Boeing 777-300ER, provided 354-412 seats, depending on cabin configuration.
Qatar Airways is now the second operator bringing the A350-1000 into Australia. Cathay Pacific commenced A350-1000 services into Melbourne a few days earlier, on October 27. Qatar Airways have also confirmed that they will be replacing the A350-900 on the Doha-Adelaide return service with the A350-1000 in March 2020.
