A
irbus delivered 688 new aircraft
to its customers in 2016 – nearly
two for every day of the year.
Airbus A350-900 HS-THF came
off the Toulouse Final Assembly Line (FAL)
and made its rst ight on June 22 last year
(2017). It is the fth of 12 A350-900s the
airline is due to receive. The rst example
to be delivered was HS-THB on August 31,- On July 7, HS-THF was passed to a
dedicated, multi-disciplinary Airbus team that
includes managers from for the ferry ight,
sales contract, conformity, airworthiness,
customer coordination and delivery
transaction.
Once the handover date is con rmed,
Airbus media relations and events teams
swing into action about a month before the
‘big day’ if it is a sign cant delivery.
They liaise with counterparts at the airline
to organise a celebration, that sets out to
highlight the importance of the delivery. The
rst delivery to a customer, or a new type to
an existing customer, will usually have the
greatest coverage and is likely to attract extra
media attention and more senior VIPs from
both the manufacturer and the carrier.
The teams will nalise the guest lists
from Airbus, the airline, engine manufacturer
and members of the press. Different
programmes are arranged for the media
and VIPs, according to their needs and are
likely to include press brie ngs on the aircraft
concerned, as well as a visit to the FAL and
mock-up centre.
An on-the-day event is arranged when the
aircraft or order is considered to be signi cant.
It will be tailored to meet the traditions, needs
or ethical stance of the airline and the country
where it is based.Airbus has delivery centres in Hamburg,
Germany; Tianjin, China; Mobile, Alabama
in the USA, and France where the Thai
aircraft was dispatched from the Henri Ziegler
Delivery Centre at Toulouse Blagnac.
This building features an iconic semi-
circular stand that provides guests with an
excellent view of the aircraft from the walkway
that surrounds it, and is directly accessible
from the main hall.
While Airbus was implementing its
meticulous plan for the aircraft, the
new operator was also making detailed
arrangements to take it onto its roster. Thai
Airways put together a group of specialists
from maintenance, nance, and legal
departments, as well as ight operations.
A test pilot and engineer, along with other
specialists worked on Thai’s part of the
process in Toulouse.THAI A350
DELIVERY
A
irbus delivered 688 new aircraft to organise a celebration, that sets out to Airbus has delivery centres in Hamburg,Meticulous detail goes into manufacturing an airliner and there
is no less attention to tiny details when it comes to delivering
the fi nished product, as Martyn Cartledge discovered when
joining the handover of Thai Airways’ fi fth A350 XWB.
78 Aviation News incorporating Jets January 201878-82_thaiDC.mfDC.indd 78 01/12/2017 18:49