The new long range Airbus A321XLR received its Type Certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. It’s been certified with CFM LEAP-1A, and a Pratt & Whitney version is expected to be certified later this year. The first plane is expected to enter service later this summer, and over 500 XLRs have been ordered to date.
Congrats #TeamAirbus – our #A321XLR has just received Type Certification from @EASA!
This is a key milestone in the XLR's journey, set to enter into service later this summer.
Let's take a look at the Xtra Long Range single-aisle's journey to get here. ✈️ https://t.co/YHigPAgApp pic.twitter.com/vRAb2as5ll— Airbus (@Airbus) July 19, 2024
IAG, parent of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and others, is the launch customer for this new plane. They re-assigned the first one from Aer Lingus to Iberia because of the former’s contract challenges with its pilots.
United, American and JetBlue are all counting on this plane. So is Air Canada, Qantas, and numerous other carriers. American in particular needs this aircraft:
- They’ve retired their Boeing 757, 767, and Airbus A330s so they have limited transatlantic capacity. Deliveries of new Boeing 787s are delayed.
- They’re planning to use this on premium cross-country routes, retrofitting their existing A321T planes back into a standard domestic configuration (removing first class, and making coach less comfortable).
A321XLR Business Class, Credit: American Airlines
A321XLR Premium Economy, Credit: American Airlines
The American Airlines Airbus A321XLR is supposed to be outfitted with 20 business class suites, 12 premium economy seats, and 123 coach seats. In the fall American expected delayed deliveries to begin in December 2024 and to be using these planes for summer 2025 Europe. American was unable to take advantage of last summer’s Europe surge which fueled competitor profitability due to lack of aircraft.
In the past American has shared that these will primarily fly from New York JFK and Philadelphia, though some may operate out of Charlotte and even Chicago O’Hare.
With design changes as a result of concerns over the extra center fuel tank, it’s unclear in practice what range limitations might be and the extent to which the XLR will fulfill its promise operating long, thin routes across the Atlantic, opening up non-stops and additional frequencies between cities where passenger traffic is too limited for a widebody.
Numerous airlines have pinned their hopes on the plane to demonstrate that narrowbodies can make money in transatlantic operations, and that it’s possible to turn seasonal routes into year-round service without the need for as many passengers.
Nice article, thanks Gary !
good for Airbus.
Let’s see how the economics of narrowbody longhaul flying on the A321XLR works compared to the 757 but I strongly suspect that whatever fuel burn savings the A321XLR has will be more than offset by the much higher labor costs since the 757 was pulled from the Atlantic – at least for American and Delta.
and, then, of course, AA and UA pilots are working for much higher wages but flight attendants are not.
now if Boeing can get the MAX 7 and MAX 10 certified and Pratt and Whitney can produce enough parts to fix all of the grounded aircraft that have GTFs, the world will look much better for a lot of airlines.
This is exciting. DL is missing the boat on this one, AA will have a far supierior product trans-con and long and lean than DL and some other, UA will match AA toe to toe IMO. Hope that the 789 deliveries get back on track and AA can being refit of the 77W and other 788 and 789 (althrough less J but better suite and more PE seats). Time to get the 772 retirement parties underway although a minor refit with former 77W business class seats could give them new life 🙂
Groovy! Hope to fly on one soon.
viking
DL has new premium transcon A321s coming but they are based on the NEO rather than the XLR.
and DL’s 321NEO premium transcons will have less than 150 seats while AA’s will have over 150 seats.
DL has said they do not believe the labor costs work for narrowbody flights over 8 hours due to the 3rd pilot.
And as B6 found out, you don’t proportionately cut FA costs relative to a widebody.
and, finally, DL is operating more widebody flights to Europe this summer than United.
The only reason that UA has more flights is because of their 757s which have a far worse product than the DL 767s.
and the labor costs on 757s are as high as they will be on the A321XLR.
@timdunn
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Sure…. Go ahead Tim. Fly those A330s and 76x on the long, thin routes that the XLR was built to serve. I’m CERTAIN the economics of widebodies are better there. Absolutely convinced.
Of course, Delta’s margins are headed the wrong way, fast.
I just don’t think this will be the gamechanger people thought it would be anymore, and not just because the range likely won’t be as initially hoped, but because the economics of long and thin routes has changed. There’s no longer a glut of pilots and cheap fuel. The opportunities where these planes really make economic sense has shrunken. These planes will have probably the lowest utilization rates of any narrowbodies due to the constraints of long routes, so good luck getting any return on that fat premium you paid airbus for the newest latest shiny toy. Add to this that people prefer not to fly very long flights on a narrowbody, even if it’s direct vs. connecting, so you probably won’t be getting the premium you thought you would.
If Boeing can get off their ass and certify the 737-10, as well as certify the 777x and quickly develop a 777-10, they would be in a good place, because what the world needs now is up-gaging.
I think SNN would still be around next year for DL if they had an LXR in the pipeline. Some of the UA expansion is perfect for. The XLR.
If I’m in coach, why do I want to give up 4 aisle seats and window seats that only climb over one sleeping person? If I’m in business, I give up 4 aisle seats and no climbing over anyone? I certainly understand airline accountants” excitement, but I can’t figure out passenger excitement over a single aisle international plane … am I missing something?
@Aland
No, you are right. Single-Aisle Long Haul is just the worst.
Sadly? It’s also the future and the 321 platform is incrementally a LOT nicer in that niche than the 757 and even the MAX10s it will snuff out of the market.
The XLR is the least bad of some very bad options across the pond.
Tom,
Delta made a $1.2 billion profit flying the Atlantic last year, twice as much as United while American lost money.
The evidence seems overwhelming that DL knows what it is doing which others recognize.
the economics of flying 150 seats with 3 pilots and at least 5 flight attendants is not going to be any where close to favorable compared to 3 pilots and 9 flight attendants (or less) on a larger widebody.
and even on a fuel cost per seat mile basis, the widebody still wins.
Not every city pair can or will get longhaul air service; there will be airlines that will be sorely disappointed that their calculations turned out so wrong.
At least the XLR can be reconfigured to fly domestic routes if necessary
and one more thing, Tom.
if narrowbody longrange transatlantic operations are such a great idea, very few of the big Euro legacy carriers are chasing the idea either.
Longhaul single aisle aircraft is the worst thing anyone can ask for, I avoid at all costs.
@ Tim Dunn (not really an expert)
There he goes again speaking about stuff he knows just enough about to be dangerous but does not really have in depth knowledge of.
Tim, UAL operates 6 flights per night across the Atlantic with two pilots (not three pilots) on the 757 or 737, (also one 787 with two pilots) so now does that change your mind of if UA makes money on those flights ?
30 west,
I don’t care how many flights UA operates with 2 pilots.
The topic is narrowbody flights that require 3 pilots.
Care to answer that question?
And, Airbus is promising range that will allow 9+ hour flights which means 3 pilots.. and the economics of 150 passengers for a legacy crew is very unlikely to be profitable.
But, again, United made HALF of what Delta made flying the Atlantic in 2023. And unless you want to tell us that and all other data that you don’t like is wrong, there are real reasons for a larger operator to make less money.
It would be wonderful if you and others would start dealing w/ reality and start explaining the reasons for UA’s transatlantic underperformance
So not excited about this aircraft. My sense about this is that it is going to take 3-stop international destinations and make them 2 stop.
Interesting
Hopefully someone will fly one into BHX from the US
Folks,
Re single-aisle “long haul,” these planes aren’t exactly flying from JFK to Asia. Flew an A321NEO YUL-LIS in J a couple of years ago, and guess what? I sat down, ate a quick dinner, flattened my seat, went to sleep, and woke up just in time to wolf down a croissant before they prepped the cabim for landing. I did not miss the second aisle. Better than a connecting flight by a very wide margin.
No thanks. I will book away from those sorts of flights, unless there is absolutely no choice.
My 10 yr old daughter and i just flew round-trip on AA to visit a sick family member , and the treatment we experience in the ground at 4 AA terminals in 4 different state’s was DISGUSTING, I was traveling with my 10 year old daughter and I am the father to that 10 year old and I cried a little bit trying to make my daughter feel comfortable , safe, welcomed, assured that everything was alright, I needed to be somewhere where I could drive to, otherwise I would have,
The terminals are disgusting 99.9999% of , the people working the terminals are dirty people’s and so are the floors , bathrooms, wall’s, planes, elevators, stairs, .
The entire trip was disgusting, the services provided us was flat out unacceptable and unpleasant,, am the father , a us army veteran so I been to disgusting places and gas to deal with unpleasant situations , but to see my daughters expression evertytime something was wrong , was too much I cried a little as I saw my daughters disappointed expression with the terminals the people that worked tge terminals , and the aircraft itself, the aircraft was not cleaned one can tell thst Iwas simply wiped down and not cleaned or disinfected correctly.
Publish or don’t publish NY email address I dont care , am gonna talk about this airline for as long as I can, ..
There are too many balls being dropped and I noticed thd reasons why is because there is no head Clown .
It’s a circus like environment and there is no one person calling the shots, in order word’s there are too many CHIEF’S AND NOT ENOUGH INDIANS,
THE FLIGHT ARTENDANTS, DO A GOOD JOB BUT CAN DO BETTER
One of the images of AA’s XLR shows that at least 12 of the coach seats will be Main Cabin Extra (the red headrests give it away). Based on the number of seats and the LOPA, it looks like their XLR will have 26 rows (10, 3, and 21, including the 2+ rows of MCE, in B, PE, and E respectively). As for seat product, looks like PE and E will be Recaro R5 and Collins Meridian respectively.