The first Airbus A350 bound for Air France has completed its first customer acceptance flight in Toulouse. Assuming that everything went to plan, we should see Air France's A350s in the skies above Paris before too long.

2019 has been quite the year for first Airbus A350 deliveries. To name a few, we've seen everybody from Japan Airlines and China Southern to British Airways and Virgin Atlantic take the ceremonial keys to their first A350s. Air France is set to be next on the list, as its first Airbus A350 is getting ready for delivery.

Customer acceptance flight

The customer acceptance flight is an important stage in delivering any aircraft, whether it is an airline's first, or 20th of the type. The flight allows crew and staff of the airline to evaluate the aircraft, and check that everything works as expected. If not, small adjustments can be made in order that everything is tip-top when the aircraft is delivered.

Yesterday, Air France's first Airbus A350 took its first customer acceptance flight. The flight was the aircraft's fourth flight to date. According to AIB Family, the aircraft took off from Toulouse at 10:39 local time. After a three-hour and eleven-minute flight in the skies around Southern France, it touched back down at 11:50.

The flight saw Air France's first Airbus A350-900 reach a top speed of 582 knots and a maximum height of 43,000 feet according to data from FlightRadar24.com. One of the more interesting points of flight saw the aircraft make a descent of around 8,000 feet per minute from 43,000 feet to 32,000 feet around two-thirds of the way into the flight.

First of 28

Air France is now expecting to receive 28 Airbus A350-900 aircraft from the European manufacturer. Air France had originally placed an order for 21 of the aircraft, with sister airline KLM ordering seven. However, the two airlines made a swap. Air France will now exclusively receive the A350, while KLM will take the group's remaining Boeing 787s.

The delivery date for Air France's first Airbus A350 has yet to be announced, however, it will likely be shortly given that the aircraft is now in the customer acceptance flight stage. Simple Flying contacted an Air France representative regarding the delivery of the aircraft, however, are yet to hear back.

Simple Flying will, of course, keep readers up to date when the aircraft's delivery is announced.

Are you excited to see the Airbus A350 in the Paris skies wearing Air France's livery? Are you due to fly on the aircraft? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!