1. It’s quiet

The Airbus A350 is noticeably quieter than other aircraft in the cruise, and I particularly notice it when coming into land through horrible weather. It’s raining and you’re being battered around a bit on approach, but on the flight deck you can talk at normal conversation levels. It’s quiet for passengers too – and this is great because one of the things that adds to jet lag and fatigue is noise. Reduce the noise, and you ‘arrive in better shape’, to use an old Cathay Pacific slogan.

2. It’s quick

The Airbus A350 travels a lot faster than most of the widebody planes flying at the moment. It’s faster than both the Boeing 777 and the Airbus A330. The only thing that keeps up with it is the Boeing 747, like those in our freighter fleet. Speed is good because you’re spending less time in the aircraft by covering the same ground in a quicker time.

3. The low cabin altitude

Because the fuselage is made from a carbon-fibre composite plastic rather than aluminium, the cabin can be pressurised more. Essentially that means that the cabin altitude is lower. On an Airbus A350, you can be flying at 35,000 to 40,000 feet, but the cabin will be at around 5,500 feet. (On a conventional aluminium aircraft, the cabin will be around 8,000 feet.) This helps with the effects of jet lag and how you feel after a flight too. It’s less fatiguing. These three things – quiet, quick, low cabin altitude – all combine to make you feel better in the cabin and after the flight.

4. The fold-out table (for Pilots)

This is common to all Airbus flight decks because pilots use a sidestick to operate the flight controls. That means we can have a fold-out table where the conventional control column would be. You can write on it, balance a meal tray on it to eat and, if you flip the table over, there’s a full keyboard to enter data into the flight computers.

5. It’s greener

The Airbus A350 burns 25 per cent less fuel than most previous generation aircraft, so it generates less carbon dioxide. It is quieter too, so it’s better for the environment in a number of ways. Cathay Pacific has managed to reduced its fuel burn by 28 per cent since 1998 – even though it now has more aircraft – thanks to the improvements brought by each generation of aircraft, of which the A350 is the latest.