Russian state-run air carrier Aeroflot on Wednesday received and presented its first Airbus A350-900 and became the first company in the country to include the passenger jet model in its fleet, Rusaviainsider.com reported.
According to the aircraft presentation, the A350 jet is planned for used in routes to the American continent, to Washington, Miami, Los Angeles, and Havana. An option is also considered to use it for flights from Moscow to New Delhi, Singapore, Denpasar, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Osaka.
The jet will make its first flights on the route from Moscow to St. Petersburg and its first scheduled flight will be tomorrow, Aeroflot’s CEO Vitaly Savelyev said at a ceremony.
Aeroflot currently has a firm contract for the supply of 22 Airbus A350 airplanes.
The company’s holding, Russia’s largest airline conglomerate Aeroflot Group, is poised to increase its combined fleet by 42 aircraft this year, including the newest Airbus A350s, A320neos, and locally-built Superjet 100s.
The Group, which includes the four member airlines of title carrier Aeroflot, Rossiya Airlines, Pobeda and Aurora, is expecting the addition of 55 aircraft and the retirement of 13 this year, according to the company’s 2019 IFRS-qualified financial performance presentation.
Of the total number of new deliveries, 13 are wide-bodies consisting of 11 Airbus A350-900s and two Boeing 777-300ERs, 16 are from the nine narrow-body Airbus A320 family including an unspecified number of neos, and seven Boeing 737s. In the regional segment, the group is counting on adding 26 aircraft made up of 22 Russian-built Superjet 100s and two each of De Havilland Canada DHCs (-8 and -6) intended for Russian far eastern regional subsidiary Aurora.
