Cathay Pacific has taken delivery of its first Airbus A350-900 and become the sixth airline customer of the A350.

The carrier will put the A350 into commercial service on regional flights from Hong Kong to Manila, Taipei, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore before deploying it on long-haul routes such as London Gatwick, Auckland, Paris, Rome and Dusseldorf in the third quarter of 2016.

Cathay was originally scheduled to be take delivery of the new type in February, but pushed it back because of issues relating to the passenger cabin.

The airline now has 21 A350-900s and 26 A350-1000s on firm order.