Originally Posted by Adam Smith

There isn't really a "normal" timeframe. It depends on, among other things:

• How many aircraft the airline needs
• How fast the has been aircraft selling
• How much the airline needs the aircraft, and when
• How much the airline wants to pay
• Whether the airline has a good relationship with the OEM
• Whether lessors have delivery positions that haven't already been committed
• Whether the airline has good relationships with said lessors
• What airline has run in to financial difficulty lately, or recently changed its strategy
• Whether the manufacturer can ramp up production

Back in 2019, the XLR was already sold out through 2023. Not long ago, I think there was talk that there were no slots available before 2026 or 2027.

If these AC XLRs were originally slots allocated to QR, that could be how AC was able to start getting them fairly soon. Or they could have come from lessors who hadn't yet leased the planes to customers. Or it's possible some other airline has cancelled its order or deferred delivery. Or Airbus might have decided to accelerate production because it was worried about making room in the market for Boeing to launch the NMA/797/whatever.