The Airbus A350-1000 has received type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following less than a year of flight testing, the manufacturer announced Tuesday. Powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines, the first A350-1000 will go to launch customer Qatar Airways by the end of the year, according to Airbus schedules.

The milestone comes after the three A350-1000 flight-test airplanes accumulated more than 1,600 flight hours, of which 150 hours Airbus dedicated to tests performed in an airline-like environment to demonstrate readiness for service entry.  

“Receiving the A350-1000 Type Certification from EASA and FAA less than one year after its first flight is an incredible achievement for Airbus and for all our partners who have been instrumental in building and testing this superb widebody aircraft,” said Airbus COO and president of commercial aircraft Fabrice Brégier. “The A350-1000 benefits from the maturity of its successful brother, the A350-900, which has translated into excellent right-on-time performance. We now look forward to delivering the first aircraft to Qatar Airways by the end of the year.” 

The A350-1000 and A350-900 share 95-percent common systems part numbers and the same type rating. The largest of the new three-member family of composite-bodied airliners, the A350-1000 measures some 240 feet long and carries 366 passengers in a typical three-class configuration, or 40 more than the A350-900 holds. It also features a modified wing trailing edge, new six-wheel main landing gear and more powerful engines. It can fly to a range of 7,950 nautical miles, allowing it to support routes for emerging markets such as Shanghai-Boston or Paris-Santiago (Chile), as well as more traditional flight segments as Manchester (UK)-Los Angeles or Dubai-Melbourne.

Eleven customers from five continents have ordered a total of 169 A350-1000s.

Billed as a modern and more efficient replacement for the Boeing 777-300ER, the Airbus A350-1000 fills what the European airframer believes became a gap in the legacy 777’s capacity range left when its U.S. competitor decided to start with a baseline of more than 400 seats for its 777X. Although Boeing’s 777-8X—scheduled for certification in 2022-- seats roughly the same number of passengers as the A350-1000 holds, Airbus thinks that the heavier weight of the smaller of the two 777X offerings will leave its biggest A350 XWB in a position to grab a sizeable portion of the market once dominated by the 300ER.