First Airbus A350F’s entire fuselage arrives in Toulouse
As of August 2025, Airbus has secured 65 A350F orders worldwide, with CMA CGM as the launch customer.;
The entire fuselage of the first Airbus A350 freighter aircraft (MSN 700) has arrived in Toulouse, after being produced across several Airbus sites in France and Germany, and will be assembled in the coming weeks.
The progress was highlighted by Joost van der Heijden, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Airbus, in a LinkedIn post.
He mentioned that the front, centre, and rear fuselage sections have arrived alongside the wings and are now being prepared for assembly in the coming weeks.
In August, Airbus told The STAT Trade Times that fuselage sections 15/21 (central fuselage) arrived on August 19, while sections 11/14 (forward fuselage) arrived on August 21. The company said these were the first fuselage sections for the A350F test aircraft, transported from Saint-Nazaire Montoir to Toulouse on Beluga XL flights.
While the first fully equipped aft section of the Airbus A350 freighter rolled out of Hamburg and was transported to Toulouse.
Image: Joost van der Heijden via LinkedIn
The European aircraft manufacturer is building two A350 freighters for flight testing, with tests scheduled for 2026 and 2027.
As of August 2025, Airbus has secured 65 A350F orders worldwide, with CMA CGM as the launch customer.
The Airbus A350 freighter, based on the A350-1000, has a range of 4,700 nm. It features the largest main deck cargo door, with a cut-out width of 175 inches and a clear opening of 169.5 inches, and offers a payload capacity of approximately 111 tonnes.
The aircraft is expected to enter service in the second half of 2027.