The first Airbus A350 passenger jet delivered to launch customer Qatar Airways is undergoing its first Maintenance check, at airline's hangar in Doha.

The A350-900 was delivered to Qatar in December 2014, and commenced commercial flight operations in January 2015.

The aircraft (A7-ALA), is the longest flown A350 in operation and is undergoing its first 3 year C-Check maintenance.

Airbus is targeting a 10 percent reduction in direct maintenance costs of A350, compared to rival Boeing 787-9 and up to 40 percent compared to the Boeing 777-200ER.

With the fuselage largely made of corrosion and fatigue free Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (53 %) and Titanium (14 %), the six year heavy checks have been split into different base checks at an interval of 36 months, with a short grounding time of around four to five days.


Being designed as a maintenance friendly aircraft, the A350 will require 20 fewer A checks compared to present generation aircraft over a 12 year period, with an average utilization of 4,700 flight hours per year.

The heavy D check—have been extended to at least 12 years, which also includes the first landing gear overhaul.