A curious activity took place at Airbus’ headquarters in Toulouse on October 21st and 22nd. The A350-1000 F-WMIL would have carried out demonstration flights for Cargolux, according to rumors on social networks.
The airline is obviously not interested in the larger passenger variant of the A350, but rather in the future cargo plane that Airbus said it was developing in July.
As the manufacturer itself recently mentioned, the future A350F will use the A350-1000 as a development base, which may explain the supposed presence of a Cargolux team knowing the aircraft up close.
The freight company has shown interest in a freight A350 for a long time. During the 2019 Paris Air Show, Richard Forson, CEO of Cargolux, told the Aerotelegraph that an A350 freighter would be a good aircraft just like the Boeing 777X.
Cargolux currently has an exclusive fleet of 30 Boeing 747s and has already made it clear that replacing it with the current 777F is not in the plans. The Luxembourg-based company prefers a new generation aircraft capable of offering a significant cost reduction.
The expectation that Boeing will launch the 777XF during the Dubai Airshow, which will take place in mid-November, with an order from Qatar Airways, is highly considered. It would be a good reason for Airbus to also find an A350F launch customer soon.
