Lufthansa has announced that it will be introducing the A350-900 to its Munich – Cape Town route, starting in December.
The aircraft can seat 293 passengers: 48 in business class, 21 in premium economy, and 224 in economy.
Among its many features, the A350-900 consumes, on average, only 2.9 litres of kerosene per passenger per hundred kilometres – roughly one quarter of that consumed by comparable aircraft.
Rolls-Royce Trent XWB turbofan engines and optimised aerodynamics reduce its noise footprint by 30%, far below the regulation threshold.
Further, because the passenger cabin can be assembled at the same time as the fuselage, wings and tail plane, the A350 takes one third less time to build than other Airbus models.
Last year, Lufthansa placed orders for a total of 25 ultra-modern jet aircraft of this type.
The first ten are to be based in Munich, flying to destinations like Delhi, Tokyo, Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai and Boston.
Currently, seven of the 10 aircraft are already operating out of Munich.
Along with Cape Town, the latest routes to be added to the A350-900’s schedule include Seoul, New York, Chicago, Denver and Singapore.