Airframer previously intended flight-test programme to commence in third quarter.
Airbus is still aiming to carry out the first flight of the A350 freighter this year, although the timeframe appears to have loosened.
Speaking during a half-year briefing on 29 July, Airbus chief Guillaume Faury said the aircraft was on track to fly “before the end of this year”.
Faury says this will begin a “very dense” flight-test programme, adding that the airframer has a target of certification and first delivery “ideally” by the end of 2027.
Production ramp-up would follow, and Faury says the airframer could achieve deliveries in “rather significant numbers as soon as 2028”.
The airframer had been looking, late last year, at a third-quarter 2026 maiden flight, and this was still the case when it took delivery of the first main-deck cargo door for the type in April – although there were signs that it could slip into the fourth.
Two flight-test aircraft – MSN700 and MSN701 – are being assembled in Toulouse for the certification programme.
Airbus has firm orders for 107 of the A350F which, like its sister passenger variants, is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.
The post A350F timeline loosens with initial flight planned ‘before year-end’ first appeared on FlightGlobal.