The Airbus A350 will celebrate just nine years in service on January 15, when Qatar Airways debuts the advanced aircraft.
Since then, there had been no serious accidents with the twin-engine jet until Tuesday, January 2 when a Japan Airlines A350-900 collided with a Dash 8 turboprop after landing on runway 34R at Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport.
The plane, registration number JA13XJ, ended up engulfed in flames after dragging itself down the runway with its nose landing gear collapsed. All 379 passengers and crew had time to evacuate the aircraft through the escape slides before the fuselage was destroyed by fire.
A video posted by a passenger showed the right engine still running as people walked away from the aircraft.
Japan Airlines is a recent A350 customer, having ordered 31 aircraft, including the A350-1000 variant, whose first jet was delivered in December.
The JA13XJ aircraft had been in service since late 2021 and was configured with a three-class cabin, with 12 seats in first class, 94 in business class and 263 seats in economy.
The A350-900 is by far the most ordered of the family, with 821 aircraft on firm orders. The aircraft was officially launched in 2006 as a response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which had introduced several technologies into its design.
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Airbus has made use of similar features such as mostly composite construction, super-efficient wing profiles, high dilution ratio engines and improved passenger cabin comfort.
According to data from Airbus, in November 2023 there were 571 A350s in service worldwide.
