Air Canada would study Airbus, Boeing for transatlantic narrowbody needs
 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-a...-idUSKCN1P82FT

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Air Canada is interested in further developing the use of narrowbody aircraft to serve the transatlantic market and would look at both Airbus and Boeing models, a senior executive said.

Mark Galardo, vice-president of network planning at the Canadian national carrier, said in answer to a question that the group would study options including the Airbus A321XLR and the Boeing 737 MAX.

However, he told a media briefing it was “premature” to discuss whether Air Canada might order the Airbus A321XLR, a potential future expansion of the Airbus portfolio that sources say the planemaker may launch by the middle of this year.

Dear AC,

Please make sure Airbus puts more than one lav in your new aircraft, should you choose to purchase them.

BR,
WTME

This could be why AC pushed back the 737-9MAX delivery.

Interesting. So they will sold as O and Y cabins since I doubt they would put in the pods.

Or worse - they go to Rouge...

Is there anyone else who could make a commercial aircraft with transatlantic range suitable for AC's operations???

That's works for me on the return fly's to Canada, but no overnight flights for me unless I have a pod.

Well, now that Airbus has bought the C-Series from Bombardier, and Boeing has bought a substantial share of Embraer...not really, no. :D

I mean, I guess AC could throw us all a curveball and order a bunch of Tupolev Tu-204s, Irkut MC-21s, or Comac C919s, but somehow I don't see that happening. IDK, I'm sure I could end up proven wrong, lol.

I think you're missing the subtle but public point being made, which is AC telling the OEMs (Boeing more than Airbus, IMHO) to get off its corporate butt and make a public ATO for the NMA. The industry was expecting the NMA (what some call the 797) ATO to happen in Q4-2018 and still nothing. Future fleet planning is quite a bit easier when operators know what OEMs have in the pipe and availability. More has been whispered about the A321XLR than the NMA.

And to think that I celebrated the impending end of TATL narrowbody travel when the 757 started to disappear.

Hah, das lange Elend (the long misery)! I guess the appellation is true in more ways than one. 😂

I think long-haul flights in a narrowbody can be made to not suck, it's just a question of whether or not the route economics permit them to, and whether or not the airlines want them to.

For one approach, see this (possibly) related thread: too many drinks in J?

Probably safe on those ones though...

TATL travel in a 17/30 seat sucks regardless of the aircraft. And there is no reason why would be a TATL trip in J aboard of an A321XLR equipped with proper lie flat seats worse than a trip in a widebody equipped with a similar seat.

Is there reason to believe that a future A321XLR operated by AC would be equipped with lie-flat seats?

They seem perfectly fine to fly a Y/PY product over the ocean with the 7M8.

Premium routes like YYZ-LHR will have the demand to continue commanding multiple widebodies per day, but new, currently uneconomical or marginal routes that might be served by an A321XLR may not justify a true international J product.

I believe, there is. The 7M8 was not ordered to fly TATL routes. It was ordered as an A320 replacement and as such, it is equipped with domestic J seats only. The TATL range of the 7M8 is just a welcome side effect of its improved fuel efficiency. However, the A321XLR would be ordered specifically for thin TATL routes. Installing lie flat seats in them would make perfect sense.