Cathay Pacific has taken delivery of its first Airbus A350-1000, becoming the second airline to operate the longer variant of the A350 family of aircraft.

Cathay, which already has 22 A350-900s in its fleet, now has 19 more A350-1000s on order. Eight of these will be delivered this year, with the remainder to arrive by 2021. The airline also has six more A350-900s to be delivered.

The A350-1000 will initially be deployed on Cathay’s regional routes, such as Taipei starting on July 1, 2018, before launching a non-stop flight between Hong Kong and Washington DC on September 15, 2018. This 17-hour flight will be the longest in the airline’s network.

Cathay will also operate the A350-1000 on its Madrid, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, Manchester and Zurich routes from this winter.

“We already have one of the youngest long-haul fleets in the sky, and with the arrival of the A350-1000, our fleet is only going to get younger,” said Paul Loo, chief customer and commercial officer of Cathay Pacific. “The aircraft follows the successful entry of the A350-900 variant which has enabled us to expand our long-haul network at a near unprecedented rate. The A350-1000 has an incredible range, is remarkably fuel efficient and quiet, provides customers with an unsurpassed cabin environment and has extremely attractive operating economics.”

The A350-1000 measures 73.79m long and is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines. Compared to the A350-900, it features a modified trailing edge on its wing and new six-wheel main landing gears. To date, 11 customers have placed orders for a total of 168 A350-1000s. Qatar Airways became the launch customer in February 2018.

According to Airbus, the A350-1000 delivered to Cathay is a new variant with a maximum takeoff weight of 316 tonnes, which gives it a maximum range of approximately 8,400 nautical miles.

“We are proud to deliver the A350-1000 to our long-standing customer Cathay Pacific,” said Eric Schulz, chief commercial officer of Airbus. “Bringing major advantages in fuel and cost efficiency along with unrivalled passenger comfort, the A350-1000 is the perfect platform for Cathay Pacific to increase capacity on some of its longest routes.”

As with the delivery flights of its 22 A350-900s, all 20 of Cathay’s A350-1000s will be flown from Toulouse to Hong Kong using a blend of alternate jet fuel.

Cathay received its first A350-900 in May 2016 and has since used the A350 to launch non-stop routes to destinations including Barcelona, Brussels, Christchurch, Copenhagen, Dublin, London Gatwick, Tel Aviv and Dublin.