Airbus has set the date for the first A350F cargo aircraft flight, promising a livestream broadcast to enable the public to be part of the occasion.
On September 25, 2026, Airbus confirmed on social media that the first A350F flight will take off on September 29, 2026, at 10:20 (GMT+2).
Airbus said that the maiden flight comes following five years of “detailed planning, component and demonstrator testing”.
Earlier this month, the European planemaker confirmed that the final countdown had begun, moving from the ‘Virtual First Flight’ milestone to the real thing.
Laurent Bussiere, Lead Flight Test Engineer for the A350F program, explained that, despite the A350F being built on the A350-1000 needs, the aircraft still requires extensive testing.
“The A350F presents unique dimensions due to the freighter’s specific fuselage configuration – which is equivalent to an A350-900 forward fuselage [length] mated to an A350-1000 rear fuselage [length] and A350-1000 wings,” Bussiere said. “In turn, this creates a new aerodynamic model which affects flight control, while the new geometry for the landing gear affects ground maneuvering.”
He added: “It’s not an A350-1000 and it’s not an A350-900, but rather it’s between both. So, we need to look at the behavior of the whole system with this unique model. That’s why we go into the development simulator to prepare for the first flight and the subsequent 400 flight-hour flight test campaign.”
In recent weeks, a test A350F has been seen performing high-speed rejected takeoffs in Toulouse, France.
There will be a five-person crew on board the first test flight, comprising two pilots, one test flight engineer (TFE), and two flight test engineers (FTE).
The certification campaign is expected to take around nine months and will involve two test A350Fs, namely MSN700 and MSN701.
