Which Airlines Are the Largest A350 Users?

The A350, also due to the massive delays of the Boeing 777X, has become the go to airliner for many long-haul carriers. It also offers a greater passenger capacity than the Boeing 787 making it more favorable for high capacity routes. The aircraft is one of few designed with composite material sections. A feature that makes the jet fuel efficient along with making the cabin air easier to breathe. Characteristics that make the plane a favourite of passengers and airlines alike. But which airlines have the largest numbers of A350s in their fleets. Which airlines use more A350-1000s and which more A350-900s? Let's dig deeper into the data. Also, if you are interested, I've performed the same analysis for the Airbus A320.

Which Airline Uses the Most Airbus A350-900?

The Airbus A350-900 is by far the most popular of the two variants. The smaller variant is more versatile and fits better into the fleets of many airlines around the world. Although Airbus produced the A330neo many carriers seem to have opted for the A350-900 to replace their aging A330-200 and 300s. Its size and capacity fill that gap perfectly.

Also, other airlines, such as Singapore Airlines, have opted to have some of the A350-900 in the ULR version. This allows the Singapore based carrier to operate some of the longest routes on the planet, such as the Changi to New York routes.

Coincidentally Singapore Airlines is also the largest user of the aircraft type, with almost double the number of planes as second placed Qatar Airways. With all of that said, here are the standings of the largest A350-900 users:

Which Instead Are the 1000 Variant Users?

Although based on the same design, the Airbus A350-1000 has a much bumpier story. The airliner has received repeatedly pushback by an airline that in theory should be all over this plane, Emirates. Tim Clark, Emirates' president, has been quite vocal of how it deems that the aircraft's engines are not up to par. Particularly to withstand the harsh, hot desert conditions Dubai offers year-round.

Also, among other carriers the aircraft hasn't proven massively successful as only very few have placed orders and operate it in their fleets. To be precise, only nine airlines currently operate this A350 variant. There will be a few more joining the list in coming months though. Here's which airlines are part of this small and exclusive club.

Some unusual airlines are also part of this brief list. Airlines such as low cost airline French Bee and Air Caraibes, with some others soon to join, such as Air Calin.

The Missing, Most Anticipated A350-1000

There is an operator which will soon start taking delivery of the Airbus A350-1000 and is the most anticipated of all by aviation enthusiasts. The airline in question is Qantas, which will be taking delivery of some very special A350-1000s. They will be the aircraft of choice for the so-called Project Sunrise. A series of flights connecting the Australian east coast with Europe and the US east coast via non-stop services.

This will be possible thanks to a low density cabin configuration and some custom modifications to the aircraft. Namely, Airbus will install extra fuel tanks to enable these planes to fly more and further than the regular A350-1000s.