The last major piece is now in place. Airbus has delivered the first main deck cargo door for its A350F freighter — shipped from its Illescas manufacturing facility in Spain to the final assembly line in Toulouse — clearing the way for test aircraft MSN700 to press toward its targeted third-quarter 2026 maiden flight.
The door arrived in Toulouse on April 21, 2026. Installation began the following morning. A350F chief engineer Joel Rocker confirmed the news in real time at an Airbus cargo media event in Hamburg and Bremen.
“The door has arrived today and was delivered to Toulouse at noon. We are going to start the integration of the door tomorrow already, and it’s about a month’s work all in all.”
— Joel Rocker, A350F Chief Engineer, April 21, 2026
Rocker described the door’s arrival as “really good news,” adding: “This was the last big hardware element missing.” Airbus formally announced the milestone on April 23. With integration expected to take roughly one month, MSN700 remains broadly on schedule for a Q3 2026 first flight — ahead of EASA certification targeted for the second quarter of 2027.
A Door Built for a New Era in Air Freight
The numbers are hard to ignore. With a 4.5-metre cut-out width and a 4.3-metre tall opening, the A350F main deck cargo door is the largest of its kind in the industry — wide enough to accept any large current-generation engine type, a capability that matters more with each passing year as nose-loading Boeing 747Fs age out of the global fleet.
Located in the rear fuselage to maintain optimal centre of gravity during loading, the door uses composite construction throughout and features an electrical open/close actuation system. Its internal structure alone comprises more than 500 parts — 12 frames, stiffeners, pins, and clips — produced by Aernnova at Illescas. Airbus’s Illescas facility manufactured the outer skins and completed final assembly before the unit was shipped north to Toulouse.
“This milestone demonstrates Spain’s key role in the production of our commercial aircraft, including the A350F programme. Delivering the first main deck cargo door is the result of years of preparation and extensive teamwork, showcasing the deep expertise and technical maturity that Illescas plant has refined over decades in composite materials.”
— Ricardo Rojas, President, Airbus Commercial Aircraft (Spain)
Where MSN700 Stands
Assembly of MSN700 began in earnest in August 2025, when the first fuselage sections arrived in Toulouse. By late 2025, the complete fuselage, wings — built in Broughton, North Wales — horizontal stabiliser, and landing gear were fully integrated. The aircraft is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines, identical to those on the passenger A350-1000, requiring no additional engine certification.
Ground testing is already underway at the FAL. The process involves roughly 200 serial ground test instructions — 40% of which have been newly created or modified specifically for the freighter variant. New A350F-specific procedures include a Main Deck Cargo Door Cycling test, an Automated Wiring Self-Test that checks more than 1,300 wires in minutes directly from the cockpit, and validation of the anti-tail-tipping warning system designed to protect aircraft and ground crews during loading.
A second test aircraft, MSN701, will join a roughly 400-hour, nine-month flight-test programme. Airbus is pursuing concurrent certification with both EASA and the FAA, and engineers have completed approximately one-third of the required regulatory documentation — expected to reach the halfway mark around the time of first flight.
Market Position
The A350F steps into a fiercely competitive large freighter market. As of end-March 2026, the programme holds 101 orders from 14 customers — including a 20-aircraft commitment from Atlas Air, with options for 20 more, signed in March 2026. Boeing’s rival 777-8F has 68 orders from seven customers, with service entry now slipping toward 2028, a gap that could hand Airbus a meaningful head start.
Order adjustments have cut both ways. Air Lease Corporation cancelled its seven-aircraft order, citing market uncertainty tied to geopolitical tensions and tariff volatility, while Air France-KLM trimmed its commitment from eight to six aircraft. On the other side of the ledger: Korean Air converted seven passenger A350 orders into freighters, Etihad added three units to its existing order, and STARLUX Airlines doubled its commitment to 10 aircraft.
With door integration now underway and first flight roughly one quarter out, the next marker to watch is MSN700’s rollout to the flight line — and whether that Q3 2026 target holds.
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