Qatar Airways has released images of its first A350 XWB fully-painted in the airline's livery.
The carrier has 80 of the widebody Airbus aircraft on order and is scheduled to receive the first one before the end of this year.
The photo of the A350 XWB in full Qatar Airways livery was taken at Airbus' hangar in Toulouse. The Gulf airline is the aircraft's launch customer.
Earlier this year, Airbus took its first A350 XWB — bearing Airbus/Qatar Airways livery — for a test flight (see news, March 2).
The development aircraft has since finished a world tour, during which it touched down in 14 cities.
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said the upcoming delivery of the A350 XWB will be a significant milestone for the airline.
He said: "We take pride in introducing the latest products and services available to the industry and this new aircraft is a prime example of that.
"We look forward to offering to our passengers even more choice and variety in the young and modern fleet which we operate to more than 140 destinations across the world."
Qatar Airways has orders worth more than $50 billion for more than 280 aircraft, including Boeing 787s, 777s, Airbus A350s, A380s and A320s.
Graham Smith