Air China Takes Two More Airbus A350-900s
On December 22nd, Air China simultaneously took delivery of two Airbus A350-900s. The addition of the two widebodies brings the airline's total A350 count to 22. The airline has had a busy December thus far, accepting three A321neos in a single day at the start of the month.
New aircraft details
According to AIB Family Flights, the details of the two new A350s are as follows:
- Registration: B-32AS (MSN 570)
- Registration: B-32CA (MSN 572)
Data indicates that the aircraft now registered B-32AS was first spotted on June 3rd, 2022 fully painted in its Air China livery. As for B-32CA, this aircraft was first spotted on June 23rd, painted in its full colour scheme but without its engines installed.
When it comes to first flights, B-32AS had its first test flight on June 9th while B-32CA had its initial take-off on August 29th. In total, B-32AS logged 11 hours and 27 minutes of pre-delivery/test-flight time over nine separate flights, while B-32CA spent just nine hours and 46 minutes in the air over the course of four flights.
AIB Family Flights data indicates that the aircraft departed Airbus facilities at Toulouse (TLS) at approximately 10:30 UTC destined for Air China's main hub at Beijing Capital Airport (PEK).
22 A350-900s in the Air China fleet
Having first accepted the A350 into its fleet back in August 2018, Air China has had a fairly constant stream of deliveries from Airbus over the years. In 2018, the carrier took a total of five A350s, followed by another four in 2019. Despite the global health crisis in 2020, Air China still accepted two in December of that year. This was followed by four in 2021, and now six in 2022. Having ordered a total of 30 of the type, Air China is now expecting to take delivery of eight more A350-900s.
All Airbus A350-900 aircraft in the Air China fleet have an identical configuration of 32 seats in business class, 24 in premium economy, and 256 in economy.
Triple delivery of A321neos
While the most recent delivery for Air China consisted of this shiny new pair of A350 aircraft, the carrier also accepted three A321neos at the start of December. Again, AIB Family Flights data provides us with details of the brand-new aircraft:
- Registration: B-32CD (MSN 10888)
- Registration: B-32C9 (MSN 11042)
- Registration: B-32CC (MSN 10862)
Apparently, all three aircraft were delivered on December 1st. With all three having been assembled at Airbus' Hamburg Finkenwerder facilities, the first aircraft (B-32CC) departed at 09:53 UTC, while the second took off at 10:45. The third then took off at 11:03 UTC.
All three aircraft flew from Hamburg to Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport (NQZ) in Kazakhstan, presumably to refuel. These narrowbodies then flew to their final destination of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU) - one of Air China's bases.
