Airbus A350F

A cargo A350 is almost as old as the programme itself. As early as 2007 Airbus spoke of a freighter version of the A350-900 with a capacity similar to the McDonnell Douglas MD-11F and a range of about 9,250 km, to be developed once the passenger aircraft was under way. That proposal then sat on the shelf for more than a decade while the manufacturer concentrated on certifying and delivering the passenger versions.

The project came back in early 2020, when Airbus began offering an A350F to airlines ahead of a possible launch. The proposed design would be slightly longer than the A350-900, and the company reckoned it needed some 50 orders to justify a programme costing between 2 and 3 billion dollars. In July 2021 the Airbus board approved development. By then the baseline was no longer the -900 but the A350-1000, with a payload of more than 90 tonnes and entry into service targeted for 2025.

The freighter, which Airbus also calls the A350-1000F, keeps the 319-tonne maximum take-off weight announced for the passenger -1000 but uses a fuselage shortened to 70.8 m overall. It is not a passenger conversion: it was designed as a freighter from the outset, with strengthened main deck floor beams, a revised nose gear position and a side cargo door behind the wing, roughly 3.8 by 3.7 m with a 65-degree opening angle. Customers asked for that position so that nose-in loading at existing facilities could be kept, and the door is large enough to take complete airliner engines and long pallets. Airbus quoted 30 pallets on the main deck and 12 on the lower deck in general cargo layout, plus a courier area for up to 11 occupants separated from the hold by a rigid barrier wall.

Published figures vary by source: Airbus advertises a 109-tonne structural payload and a range of 4,700 nautical miles (about 8,700 km) at that payload, while other references credit it with up to 111 tonnes. Against the Boeing 777F, its direct rival, the manufacturer promised 11% more volume, about 30 tonnes less take-off weight and 20% lower fuel burn and CO2 emissions; against the 747-400F, the same volume with 40% less fuel. More than 70% of the airframe is made of advanced materials, and the engines are the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 of the -1000.

The decisive sales argument was regulatory. ICAO adopted a CO2 emissions standard applicable to aircraft still in production after 31 December 2027; older-design freighters do not meet it and cannot go on being built after that date, which some sources place in 2028. Airbus presented the A350F as the only new-generation large freighter able to comply, and its marketing managers spoke of a coming "cliff" that would force carriers to renew their fleets.

The first customer arrived in November 2021 at the Dubai Airshow: US lessor Air Lease Corporation ordered seven aircraft as part of a 110-aircraft Airbus deal, with deliveries expected from 2026. By the end of that year the backlog stood at 11 firm orders, including four aircraft for CMA CGM, plus letters of intent from Singapore Airlines and the Air France-KLM group. Singapore Airlines signed for its seven aircraft at the 2022 Singapore Airshow and was named launch operator. Later customers include Cathay Cargo and Atlas Air, which in March 2026 announced a firm order for 20 aircraft, the first non-Boeing type in its history. By the end of 2023 the order list already showed 115 freighters, none of them delivered.

The schedule slipped. In February 2025 Airbus postponed entry into service to 2027 because of supply-chain problems, above all with Spirit AeroSystems, which builds the centre fuselage section. In August 2025 Air Lease Corporation cancelled its launch order, and CMA CGM Air Cargo then claimed the launch operator role. By late 2025 final assembly was under way in Toulouse, with detailed design complete and the main components in production. To reduce risk Airbus built a full-scale cargo door demonstrator and set out to reuse the certification of the -1000, whose flight control laws the freighter shares.

The prototype took off for the first time from Toulouse on 29 September 2026, opening a flight test campaign meant to lead to first deliveries in 2027.