FLIGHT TEST: Airbus A350-1000 takes growth in its stride

When Airbus first set out back in 2004 to develop a new widebody under the A350 designation, it originally posited an upgraded version of the existing A330 twinjet. Having taken aim at the then-new Boeing 787, Airbus quickly realised that this derivative programme would be handicapped in the race against the Dreamliner – and went back to the drawing board.