Airbus's Cargo a350 Takes to the Air for the First Time

Airbus flew the cargo version of its A350 for the first time on Sept. 29, 2026. The company said the aircraft, the first of two test jets, took off from Toulouse, France, stayed airborne for 4 hours 10 minutes, and reached 25,000 feet, while an Airbus flight test crew checked its basic airworthiness, how it handled, and whether its systems behaved as predicted.

The A350F is built to carry freight on long international routes, and Airbus's release puts its payload at up to 111 metric tons and its range at up to 8,700 kilometers.

The flight opens a test campaign that Airbus says will run for more than nine months, and the company has not announced when the freighter will be certified or enter service. The second test aircraft is at an advanced stage of final assembly and is due in the paint shop in the next few weeks.

Airbus describes the freighter as the latest development of its A350 platform, which is already in airline service as a passenger aircraft. By the end of August 2026, on the company's own count, the A350F had 115 orders from 14 disclosed customers.

The aircraft was flown by Captain Bernardo Saez-Benito and First Officer Sylvain Guiraud, with three flight test engineers aboard.