Big Airbus A350F News

In what has been an intense period for the upcoming Airbus A350 Freighter, the launch customer for the new jet has been confirmed.

French logistics firm CMA CGM will be the launch customer of the jet, confirming the development across its social media feed.

Under current forecasting, the firm would hope to take delivery of its first A350 Freighter sometime in the second half of 2027, based on the latest estimates, thanks to guidance from the planemaker.

A move by CMA CGM sees it replace the previously listed launch customer of Air Lease Corporation, who decided against taking on the next-generation freighter and instead is prioritising the development of its passenger aircraft fleet.

Driven by this, Air Lease Corporation cancelled its long-standing order for the upcoming A350 Freighter and has now passed the mantle over to CMA CGM, which will take delivery of the first unit.

The second operator to sign for the dedicated freighter, the MoU was initially placed in November of 2021 and was firmed up in December.

As part of the initial deal, CMA CGM said it would take on four units, but later, in the last 18 months, that deal increased to eight units, now expected to be delivered in the future.

What’s Happened With The A350F?

News of CMA CGM’s decision follows an intensely busy period for the upcoming A350 Freighter as it continues to progress towards formal approval and an entry into service.

The primary focus in the last two months has centred around order cancellations, with the program receiving more cancellations than new deals.

In the last month, as touched on, Air Lease Corporation confirmed its decision to scrap an order for seven of the A350 Freighters as it realigned its focus towards providing passenger aircraft to airlines.

The decision to cancel followed previous delays to the program, which had been confirmed, but also thanks to the uncertain nature of future demand in the cargo sector, which posed added risks in taking on the jet.

This move follows Air France-KLM, which has also throughout this year stated that it would reduce the number of dedicated freighters it would take delivery of, notably that visible through July’s trimming of an order destined for Martinair.

All in all, a previous order for the A350 Freighter of eight units will be reduced to six, similar to Air Lease Corporation. This decision follows delays, but also the necessary assessments, which are conducted on a routine basis to determine the best makeup.

A Program Delayed

All of this, and many of the decisions driven by freight providers to axe orders for the upcoming A350 Freighter, follow the confirmed pushback in the launch of this aircraft.

Airbus confirmed earlier this year its move to delay the launch to the second half of 2027, at the earliest, under current guidance following initial reporting from Reuters.

The planemaker, under previous assumptions, hoped to see the first flight of this dedicated freighter take place this year with a certification in 2026, which has now proven to be impossible.

2025 has seen Airbus struggle to progress in more ways than one as pressures from supply chains continue to overpower its day-to-day operation and thus present challenges in the certification of the game-changing freighter.

Those complications have affected the ability to reach annual delivery targets for quite some time now, and with the hopes of 820 for 2025 now under a severe cloud of doubt due to the latest delivery figures being significantly under the required rate.

Customers’ responses to the A350F delay have been mixed, with some coming out publicly and others not yet; however, the delay didn’t necessarily come as a shock.

Operators such as Air France-KLM, even in 2024, expected the jet to encounter delays and were beginning to prepare for such a set of circumstances; these customers nowadays often jump the gun over the planemaker to confirm delays.