Airbus test pilots and managers watched on Friday as the inaugural flight of the aircraft went off without a problem, according to CNN. The plane took off from Toulouse-Blagnac airport at about 10 a.m. local time and landed four hours later.
The test crew waved an Airbus flag from a hatch above the cockpit as the plane taxied after landing from its first flight. The crew emerged to applause from friends and family, and said that the aircraft was easy to handle and performed well throughout the test flight.
"After the first few minutes, it didn't feel like we were doing a first test flight," Peter Chandler, the chief test pilot for Airbus, told CNN. "It was so relaxed and so predictable."
"It's a great day for all people who have a passion for aerospace," Fabrice Bregier, the Chief Executive Officer for Airbus, said.
Airbus hopes to have the new plane fully certified for commercial flights within about a year.
"This is about going fast but never rushing, and I am very confident that after this first flight...we will deliver this aircraft by 2014 to our first customers," Bregier added.
The company is hoping to capture more than half the global market of 6,000 long-range aircraft over the next 20 years.
"I knew it was going to be impressive, but I was blown away," John Leahy, the Airbus Chief Operating Officer, said immediately after the A350 XWB aircraft takeoff. "Did you hear how quiet it was?
"Did you hear what you didn't hear?" he asked. "We're going to set new standards, not just for comfort, not just for performance, but for environmental friendliness.
"People living around airports won't even know we're taking off," Leahy continued.
The six international test flight crewmembers went through many hours of training in a flight simulator. Bregier said he had set a window of nine months to complete the first test flight before the upcoming Paris Air Show.
Airbus hasn't confirmed that they plan to show off the new plane to aviation enthusiasts at the show, which runs from June 17-23. The decision hasn't been made, according to Frank Chapman, an Airbus test pilot who watched the inaugural flight from the ground. It will depend on how safety testing goes.
"That would certainly be a highlight," Murdo Morrison, the editor of aerospace industry magazine Flight International. "It's one of the newest and most exciting aircraft."
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