South Pacific Fiji Airways has taken delivery of its stunning new A350-900 today at a ceremony in Toulouse. Set to be used on routes between Australia, Fiji and Los Angeles, the new Airbus aircraft features all-new seats and luxurious touches from nose to tail.

Delivered in Toulouse

Fiji Airways has taken delivery of its first A350-900 in a ceremony at Toulouse today. The airline will now become the first in the South Pacific to operate the A350 XWB, a super-efficient widebody aircraft that is proving popular with carriers all over the world.

This is the first of two A350s destined for the carrier, both being leased by Dubai based DAE capital. These are also the first A350s to be purchased from Airbus by the leasing company.

You can watch the making of the Fiji Airways A350 in the video:

Powered by Rolls Royce

Along with representatives of Airbus and Fiji Airways, UK engine manufacturer Rolls Royce went along to the ceremony too. Fiji Airways announced Rolls Royce as the manufacturer of choice to power its A350s back in May this year. The A350 will be powered by the Trent XWB, an engine which provides a 15% fuel saving compared to the first Trent engine, alongside world beating performance and low noise levels.

At the delivery ceremony, Jacqui Sutton, Rolls-Royce, Chief Customer Officer said,

 “This is another great endorsement for the Trent XWB and will make Fiji Airways the first operator for the Trent XWB in the South Pacific. The Trent XWB continues to demonstrate world-beating levels of performance, noise and efficiency and Fiji Airways passengers will absolutely love flying on the A350 XWB.”

As well as the engines, Rolls Royce is further supporting Fiji Airways with its TotalCare package. This long term services agreement will see Rolls Royce taking full responsibility for engine maintenance, ensuring more time on wing for the airline and faster response times in the event of maintenance needs.

What can we expect from the Fiji Airways A350?

Both A350s destined for Fiji Airways come configured in a two class layout with 334 seats in total. These are split between 33 fully lie flat business class seats and 301 economy class seats. Of the economy seats, 39 are BULA SPACE seats, designed with extra legroom.

The seats chosen by the airline are the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond for business and the Recaro CL3710 for economy. All seats offer Thales high definition inflight entertainment systems.

Fiji Airways will operate this first A350 on its Nadi to Los Angeles and Nadi to Sydney routes. This will make for a highly appealing layover for those traveling between the US and Australia. As its such a long flight with two legs to the journey, it requires two aircraft. That means we’re unlikely to see the A350 operating anywhere other than on this route.

The two the airline will receive from Airbus will be highly complementary to its existing fleet of six A330 family aircraft, benefitting from the common type rating between the two models.

Are you excited to step on board Fiji Airways’ new A350? Let us know in the comments.