Qantas' New A321XLR

[Himeno]

Is this just an Airbus test flight, or a customer one?

Do customer acceptance flights use the customers call sign or the manufacturers?

 

[sevenfourtyseven]

Livery looks great!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1930555578734018871

 

[Saab34]

Certainly is a slow backlog at Airbus, even the latest Jetstar arrivals have been slow from test flights to delivery, last year they pumped them out.

 

[moa999]

Do customer acceptance flights use the customers call sign or the manufacturers?

Believe always manufacturer.. occasionally you have multiple acceptance flights.

 

[Lucass]

So exciting! surely it's close to delivery now???

 

[NZflygirl]

Do customer acceptance flights use the customers call sign or the manufacturers?

Believe always manufacturer.. occasionally you have multiple acceptance flights.

Air NZ's ZK-NNH had 2 test flights on the 21st and 23rd of May using airbus call signs. The delivery flights were the first under ZK-NNH May 31.

I checked XFWs other arrivals and there's a WIZZ air A321 which just had it's 2nd test flight 2 days after the first test flight. There's a pattern (Air NZ, Wizz air and QF in progress) of the airbus call sign ending in 'A' flights which involve more manoeuvres in the flight profile, then at a later date a 'B' and a 'C' flight with uneventful flight profiles. Based on this I'd expect another test flight 'C' for QF tomorrow if they're working on Saturdays, followed by a delivery in ~ a week. I guess it will spend a bit of time on the ground with QF doing its own checks before the inaugural flight. Wondering if that 'C' flight could be the customer acceptance flight. Looking at some other test rego's there's sometimes only an 'A' and 'B' flight, so 'C' could occur under the airline rego.

 

[evanb]

I don't know but it has a similar flight profile to Air NZ's A321 ZK-NNH about a week before it's delivery flight. It just landed in NZ yesterday so if I had to go by patterns, hopefully a delivery in ~10 days?

Possibly, but Airbus Hamburg have four production lines and the QF A321XLR and NZ A321 are from different production lines. Also, the XLRs are still a relatively new subtype with several teething issues. The recent Wizzair XLR (first PW powered) had several more flights. That said, both Airbus and QF will want it delivered quickly.

 

[evanb]

Do customer acceptance flights use the customers call sign or the manufacturers?

It operates under Airbus test registration until final payment is made and the delivery and acceptance receipt is signed. Only then does ownership transfer to Qantas and test reg sticker removed.

Customer acceptance flights are inspection flights before this occurs.