Will want to point out that yesterday, UA A321neo Ship number N14506 flew SFO-HNL and flew HNL-SFO today. Undoubtedly ETOPS certification flights. Looks like we will be seeing A321neo Hawai'i flying next year, my guess is the summer. I guess this proves that these aircraft do have the legs for those flights despite not having a single ACT tank.
Update: From a UA employee posting on another forum, confirmation this was indeed an ETOPS proving run. Not sure how long it takes before more aircraft can be certified but UA is definitely looking at using these aircraft to Hawai'i soon, depending on how quickly Airbus can deliver them and no teething PW engine issues.
Last edited by Longboater; Dec 11, 2024 at 8:48 pm
Reason: Update