Cathay said to delay Airbus A350 delivery as seats not ready

Cathay Pacific Airways has pushed back the expected delivery of its first Airbus A350 model toward the middle of the year because business-class seats aren’t ready for installation, according to 2 people familiar with the matter. The airline, scheduled to get the wide-body jet by February, will now receive it closer to the end of the first half, the people said Wednesday. The A350’s business berths are made by Zodiac Aerospace, which has been struggling to meet delivery schedules. Cathay Pacific said that the first of 22 A350-900s it has on order should be delivered “in early 2016.” The carrier is also taking 26 larger -1000 variants. Airbus CE Fabrice Bregier has singled out Zodiac as causing difficulties on the A350, saying it won’t be invited to bid on the re-engined A330neo. <br/>