Airbus flies A350F freighter in challenge to Boeing

By Tim Hepher

TOULOUSE, France, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Airbus carried out a maiden flight of its delayed A350F freighter on Tuesday, hoping to loosen Boeing's decades-old grip on a vital and profitable part of global trade.

The windowless version of Europe's A350 long-haul jet - emblazoned with the slogan "Open Here for Business" on its cargo door - flew a lap of honour over Airbus factories in southwest France and landed smoothly following a four-hour flight.

The debut marks the start of nine months of certification trials before the plane is due to enter service in the second half of 2027, ahead of Boeing's recently upgraded 777 freighter.

Dozens of buyers, financiers and supply executives watched the take-off and landing from near the side of the runway.

"Everything went smoothly in today's flight," Airbus Commercial CEO Lars Wagner told reporters, adding it was the first in a new generation of freighters.

He reiterated the latest delivery schedule for the new cargo model and said he was "very confident" in this year's targets for total Airbus deliveries despite a recent industrial flaw on smaller A321neo jets.

About a third of global trade by value travels by air, and half of that goes in mainly Boeing freighters rather than in the belly of passenger jets.

Demand for air freight is growing as conflict blocks shipping in the Gulf and AI accelerates demand for semiconductors.

"You are seeing the boom in AI in terms of chips and servers that are generally going by air," said Crawford Hamilton, head of freighter marketing at Airbus.

Cargo traffic grew 4.7% in the first half of this year despite lower volumes in the Middle East. That was the fastest rate of growth since the 2008 financial crisis, he added.

BOEING STRONGHOLD

After decades lagging Boeing in a profitable niche representing 10% of the global jet market, Airbus committed to an A350-based freighter in 2021, gambling that e-commerce and demand for pharmaceuticals and electronics would keep growing.

It also hoped for a slice of the strong profits that Boeing was seen as making from its successful 777F long-haul freighter, prompting Boeing to hit back with an upgraded model, the 777-8F.

Boeing has long dominated the freighter market with the 777F and before that the 767 and the 747 jumbo freighter, which opened new corridors between Asia and the West.

It argues its larger freighters allow airlines to earn more revenue; Airbus says its lighter airframe is cheaper to operate.

Airbus has sold 115 A350F compared with Boeing's 81 777-8Fs, part of the delayed 777X family. Previous efforts to penetrate the freight market stumbled as an A330 version was heavily outsold by the larger 777F and an A380 freighter was axed.

Boeing sees demand for 930 dedicated freighter planes in the next 20 years. On top of that, some 2,000 planes will be converted to freighters after leaving passenger service.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher, editing by Inti Landauro, Kirsten Donovan and Louise Heavens)