Interest in Delta Air Lines Olympic Games themed A350s at the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France, has been intensifying since March 2024, when one of the new aircraft was seen with a special ‘LA28’ livery.
Since then, another A350-900 has been spotted at the Airbus factory blazoned with ‘TEAM USA’ carrying out preparations for certification and getting finally ready to be delivered to Delta later in the year.
Delta is the official airline of Team USA for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this year and Los Angeles in 2028, as well as the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina which will be held in 2026.
Perhaps unsurprisingly the new A350 was photographed adorned in a red, white and blue livery with ‘TEAM USA’ painted in huge lettering across the fuselage.
RTO done for the #TeamUSA @Airbus #A350 @Delta #N521DN ! #Avgeeks #Avgeek pic.twitter.com/4SBi3L9uAZ
— Clément Alloing (@CAlloing) April 8, 2024
According to Air Live, the new Team USA jet, test registration F-WZGU, has been spotted performing taxi checks and a rejected takeoff test (RTO) in Toulouse in recent days.
Flightradar24.com data showed that on April 10, 2024, the new aircraft took off from Toulouse shortly after 10:15 local time for a first test flight lasting just over three hours.
And first flight done today for this new @Airbus #A350 for @Delta wearing the #TeamUSA colors #N521DN ! Replay #AIB01GU on @RadarBoxCom #Avgeeks #Avgeek pic.twitter.com/3OHC9lNSqq
— Clément Alloing (@CAlloing) April 10, 2024
In March 2024, the ‘LA28’ A350-900 was pictured still without engines and bearing the test registration F-WZNU.
The new color scheme appears to be broadly based on the existing Delta external livery but with some eye-catching variations.
The Team USA A350 will be finally registered as N521DN.