Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) has confirmed the delivery of its first A350F to a customer will now take place in early 2026, a few months later than originally planned.
Airbus recently began machining the first components for the A350F at its Nantes plant and had originally hoped to deliver the first aircraft by the end of 2025. It did not provide a specific reason for the revised timeline.
"We are in the execution of the program, we are in the development phase, we are starting the initialisation of the product, so we are updating constantly the planning and what we have said today reflects a slight slippage of the overall planning," Interim Chief Financial Officer Xavier Tardy said during an earnings call.
The ch-aviation fleets module shows that Airbus has so far gained 39 firm orders for the A350F, which will be a derivative of the A350-1000. The largest disclosed customers are Singapore Airlines and Etihad Airways, each with seven units on order.
The rival B777-8F is expected to enter into service in 2027, as its base passenger variant, the B777-8, will not make its commercial debut before 2025.
