Airbus A350 completes maiden flight - Yahoo! Finance

Airbus A350 completes maiden flight - Yahoo! Finance: "TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - Europe's newest jetliner, the Airbus A350, successfully completed its maiden flight on Friday, stepping up the battle with arch-rival Boeing for sales of a new generation of sleek, lightweight passenger aircraft.
Watched by more than 10,000 staff and spectators, the aircraft's curled wingtips sliced into clouds above the Airbus factory in southwestern France and flew over the Pyrenees mountains, with a crew of six wearing orange jumpsuits and parachutes.
The flight, with two former fighter pilots at the controls, lasted about four hours and capped eight years of development estimated to have cost $15 billion."

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