Aeroflot has scheduled test flights of its newest aircraft, the Airbus A350, on the Moscow-St. Petersburg and Moscow-Dubai routes in March. The test period will last three weeks – it is intended primarily to familiarize the crews with the new technology, but also allows the new product to be presented to a larger number of passengers, reports our own correspondent Travel.ru.
The first two weeks of testing are given to St. Petersburg, where three flights per day are scheduled. However, on the first day of flights, March 6, only two flights are scheduled - at 8.10 and 15.35 from Moscow, at 11.05 and 18.25 from St. Petersburg. From March 7, a third flight will be added, at 21.35 from Moscow and 0.35 from St. Petersburg. The flight program to St. Petersburg is currently scheduled only until March 20.
In Moscow, they will use the Sheremetyevo-1 (B) terminal. These two weeks will probably be the only period in the foreseeable future when the Airbus A350 can be flown on a domestic flight. Then, at least until 2021, its use is planned only on international routes.
The minimum price at which you can currently buy a ticket for an Airbus A350 is 3,009 rubles, similar to other Aeroflot flights on the Moscow-St. Petersburg route. At the same time, it is difficult to find such prices at the beginning of March due to the holiday period, but in mid-March, if you really want to, you can find such an option (as a rule, this is a morning flight from Moscow). But most flights on the Airbus A350 now cost at least 5,099 rubles one way (probably in the future you can buy it cheaper during various discount promotions). A ticket in premium economy class can be purchased for 11,349 rubles one way, in business class - for 45,599 rubles.
The next stage of testing of the aircraft is planned from March 21 to 28 – this time on the medium-length route Moscow – Dubai. It is scheduled for flights at 8.30 from Moscow and 16.40 from Dubai (except March 26). You can fly to Dubai on the Airbus A350 from 10,968 rubles one way and 20,106 round trip.
This will be the end of the crews' familiarization with the new Aeroflot aircraft type, and from March 29 it will be put on its first regular route - evening flights to New York (at 20.05 from Moscow and 0.55 from New York). The minimum roundtrip price is now 26,854 rubles.
In the future, as new aircraft arrive, the Airbus A350 will appear on a number of other routes already in 2020. Among them, in particular, flights to Beijing, Delhi, Amsterdam, Osaka, Havana, Miami, Los Angeles, Denpasar, Male, London are expected (the list may be changed or supplemented).
The Airbus A350-900 ordered by Aeroflot has a three-class configuration with 316 seats. Of these, 28 are in business class (7 rows of 4 horizontally reclining seats with direct access to the aisle for each passenger), 24 are in premium economy class (3 rows of 8 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration) and 264 seats in regular economy class (3-3-3 configuration). In total, Aeroflot should receive at least 14 Airbus A350 aircraft. They will replace the Airbus A330 as the latter are withdrawn from the fleet.
Aeroflot has applied a slightly modified livery to the Airbus A350, in particular, with an enlarged airline name and an almost completely white fuselage. So far, this innovation has caused mixed reactions from aviation fans, but it is possible that after seeing the plane not in photographs, but in reality, some of them will change their position. In general, the new livery corresponds to the global trend of enlarging the font of names (and applying them, among other things, to the bottom of the aircraft), as well as white or light fuselages.
Source: travel.ru