The first Airbus A350-900 destined for Air India (AI) has taken flight on its maiden voyage in the skies of southern France. The aircraft, which holds the registration F-WZFZ, took off from Toulouse at 10:14 on August 4th, for a flight nearing three hours (2hr 52mins) over the Bay of Biscay, La Rochelle, and Bordeaux, before touching down back in Toulouse at 13:06.

Those planespotting the flight quickly noticed the aircraft was yet to be dressed in the Air India livery, instead looking pale in a complete white paint job. Once destined for Aerflot, the aircraft was passed on to Air India when sanctions kicked in, limiting the Russian carrier's operations. Air India's order for an astonishing 250 Airbus aircraft (140 A320neo, 70 A321neo, six A350-900, and 34 A350-1000) meant that Air India was allocated the aircraft and expected deliveries of the A350-900 before the end of the year.

Six by Christmas

As reported by AeroTime, Air India expects that six shiny new A350-900s will be in operation for the airline by the end of the year; however, as the aircraft was once destined for Aeroflot, they will arrive with the Russian carrier's interior. Any customization of this will take some time. Simple Flying recently published an article noting the aircraft state of production and expected delivery. Key takeaways include:

• MSN 554 (Test registration F-WZFZ, previous registration VT-JRH): Painted in all-white livery, with the first test flight on August 4th.
• MSN 558 (Test registration F-WZFN, previous registration VT-JRI): Spotted on June 16th with engines installed.
• MSN 585 (Test registration F-WZGT): Spotted on June 20th without engines installed.
• MSN 589 (Test registration F-WZNY): Spotted on July 24th, in full-white livery, without engines installed.

Aeroflot configuration

Given that the carrier's interior will sport Aeroflot interior, it is known that the configuration will be 28 business class seats, 24 in premium economy, and the remaining 264 in economy class. The main reason Air India retained the Russian interior is simply due to time constraints and the desire for the Indian carrier to get these birds in the air as quickly as possible to align with its ambitious growth plans.

Sources: Aerotime