Jun 19, 2019, 9:33 am
Last edit by: Prospero
AA Airbus A321XLR
merican ordered 50 Airbus A321XLR at the June Paris Airshow held at Paris - Le Bourget airport. 30 of these replace previously ordered A321neo, 20 are new orders. These will largely fulfill the roles of the departing Boeing 757-200. Airbus announced first deliveries of the XLR to start in 2023.
The Airbus A321XLR will reportedly have over 90% compatibility with, and will use the same basic engines as, the A321neo. With a range at ~101 metric tons of up to 4,700 nm, @5% more than the A321LR, the longest range of any narrowbody commercial aircraft. The aircraft will offer a 30% fuel savings compared to current comparable aircraft.
The aircraft can accommodate 180-220 passengers in two class configuration. AA is reported by several sources as seeking to fly these with all aisle access lie flat bed seats in Business, Premium Economy. Routing is expected to include East Coast - Europe lower demand routes, and likely South America.
“American will take delivery of their A321XLRs over the following timeframe...: 8 in 2023, 22 in 2024, 20 in 2025” - OMAT
Launch customers for the A321XLR were Steven F. Udvar-Házy‘s Air Lease Corporation (27) and Middle East Airlines of Lebanon, (4). Other airlines ordering A321XLR directly or through lessors include, additionally to AA, Aer Lingus, Frontier, Iberia, JetSMART (Chile), Jetstar, Qantas, Wizz Air.
OMAT
published range maps from GC
Maps:
Links to sources
Link to Is The Airbus A321XLR Vaporware Or The New Long-Range Leader?, Michael Goldstein, Forbes, 19 Jun 2018 (early speculation)
JonNYC original “hearing from multiple angles that an AA order for the A321LR is imminent, potentially at the Paris air show” was 31 May 2019, quoted in this thread on airliners.net.
Link to Airbus launches longest range single-aisle airliner: the A321XLR, Airbus, 17 Jun 2019
Link to Airbus Launches The A321XLR, The Longest Range Narrow Body Plane Ever, by Ben (Lucky), OMAT, 17 Jun 2019
Link to American Airlines agrees to order 50 Airbus A321XLRs,Airbus, 19 Jun 2019
Link to American Airlines Orders 50 Airbus A321XLRs, Ben (Lucky, 19 Jun 2019 OMAT
Link to American Airlines to become the first US airline to order new Airbus plane Phil LeBeau, CNBC, 19 Jun 2019 (It was actually Frontier who ordered first)
merican ordered 50 Airbus A321XLR at the June Paris Airshow held at Paris - Le Bourget airport. 30 of these replace previously ordered A321neo, 20 are new orders. These will largely fulfill the roles of the departing Boeing 757-200. Airbus announced first deliveries of the XLR to start in 2023.
The Airbus A321XLR will reportedly have over 90% compatibility with, and will use the same basic engines as, the A321neo. With a range at ~101 metric tons of up to 4,700 nm, @5% more than the A321LR, the longest range of any narrowbody commercial aircraft. The aircraft will offer a 30% fuel savings compared to current comparable aircraft.
The aircraft can accommodate 180-220 passengers in two class configuration. AA is reported by several sources as seeking to fly these with all aisle access lie flat bed seats in Business, Premium Economy. Routing is expected to include East Coast - Europe lower demand routes, and likely South America.
“American will take delivery of their A321XLRs over the following timeframe...: 8 in 2023, 22 in 2024, 20 in 2025” - OMAT
Launch customers for the A321XLR were Steven F. Udvar-Házy‘s Air Lease Corporation (27) and Middle East Airlines of Lebanon, (4). Other airlines ordering A321XLR directly or through lessors include, additionally to AA, Aer Lingus, Frontier, Iberia, JetSMART (Chile), Jetstar, Qantas, Wizz Air.
OMAT
published range maps from GC
Maps:
Links to sources
Link to Is The Airbus A321XLR Vaporware Or The New Long-Range Leader?, Michael Goldstein, Forbes, 19 Jun 2018 (early speculation)
JonNYC original “hearing from multiple angles that an AA order for the A321LR is imminent, potentially at the Paris air show” was 31 May 2019, quoted in this thread on airliners.net.
Link to Airbus launches longest range single-aisle airliner: the A321XLR, Airbus, 17 Jun 2019
Link to Airbus Launches The A321XLR, The Longest Range Narrow Body Plane Ever, by Ben (Lucky), OMAT, 17 Jun 2019
Link to American Airlines agrees to order 50 Airbus A321XLRs,Airbus, 19 Jun 2019
Link to American Airlines Orders 50 Airbus A321XLRs, Ben (Lucky, 19 Jun 2019 OMAT
Link to American Airlines to become the first US airline to order new Airbus plane Phil LeBeau, CNBC, 19 Jun 2019 (It was actually Frontier who ordered first)
AA Orders 50 Airbus A321XLR at 2019 Paris Airshow
Jun 19, 2019, 7:18 pm
#31
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Jun 19, 2019, 7:43 pm
#32
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Jun 19, 2019, 8:51 pm
#33
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Those passengers wants more space and better legroom. They want to get a better seats. They have to be 31'' inches, not 27 or 28 inches. which is terrible. They are very uncomfortable.
Jun 19, 2019, 8:59 pm
#34
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I’m fascinated by what these planes mean for the southeastern US hubs like CLT, MIA, and ATL (DL). Could open up new TATL routes that have never before been operated.
Jun 20, 2019, 9:30 am
#35
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Jun 20, 2019, 9:55 am
#36
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I added DFW and MIA range maps to my post above. Great Circle Mapper makes it easy to enter an airport and range, and see the results. E.g. for CLT, enter 4700nm@CLT into the range box and click. HNL, EZE, SCL, MVD, CMN, BLQ, lots of interesting possibilities.
Last edited by JDiver; Jun 20, 2019 at 10:01 am
Jun 20, 2019, 10:23 am
#37
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Thanks! I was wondering about DFW - everyone seems to be focusing on how AA will optimize the east coast with these, but I have a feeling it opens up a lot for DFW too. Airbus has hit it out of the park here it seems.
Jun 20, 2019, 10:25 am
#38
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What are you talking about? Where did I say a 7 hr narrowbody transcon would be ok? It's not really worth talking about it though, unless an airline has suggested upgauging a domestic route (beyond the one offs that occur for positioning).
Jun 20, 2019, 10:27 am
#39
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Exactly. Once when I was flying PHL-PHX on a B757 the pilot joked how it would be faster to just fly to Dublin. It was in Nov or Dec, and we really had to fight a very strong jetstream the whole way.
Jun 20, 2019, 10:29 am
#40
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JFK/PHL initially. Followed by possibility of CLT. Lowest on the list at present, DFW.
Jun 20, 2019, 10:38 am
#41
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Perhaps AA didn't do it, but US and others flew the B757 from East Coast hubs to Europe in the past. I only flew on one once, on CO LIS-(GLA)-EWR (fuel stop due to volcano mess), and it was a far better experience than the B767 or A330 in coach. I don't recall any issues with the lavs. They actually did drink/snack service between LIS and GLA, then did the full drink/meal service after we got going from GLA, so carts were in the aisles quite a bit. From what I remember, most of the B757's had a forward lav in Y (just in front of door 2L), then 2 more in the back. If this new A321 variant is similar, I really don't see any problems.
Jun 20, 2019, 11:14 am
#42
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From DFW it opens up about the same to the west and south as CLT; some Eastern European destinations wouldn't be doable.
Jun 20, 2019, 11:18 am
#43
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Perhaps AA didn't do it, but US and others flew the B757 from East Coast hubs to Europe in the past. I only flew on one once, on CO LIS-(GLA)-EWR (fuel stop due to volcano mess), and it was a far better experience than the B767 or A330 in coach. I don't recall any issues with the lavs. They actually did drink/snack service between LIS and GLA, then did the full drink/meal service after we got going from GLA, so carts were in the aisles quite a bit. From what I remember, most of the B757's had a forward lav in Y (just in front of door 2L), then 2 more in the back. If this new A321 variant is similar, I really don't see any problems.
). Though I've never flown a transatlantic narrowbody flight (yes, LAA had them), I can't imagine how the cart situation would be better.Yes, a forward lav is necessary, but the trend in recent years has been to remove them/not include them. I hope they would make a different decision on a long haul configuration, but I'm not optimistic.
Jun 20, 2019, 12:22 pm
#44
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Perhaps AA didn't do it, but US and others flew the B757 from East Coast hubs to Europe in the past. I only flew on one once, on CO LIS-(GLA)-EWR (fuel stop due to volcano mess), and it was a far better experience than the B767 or A330 in coach. I don't recall any issues with the lavs. They actually did drink/snack service between LIS and GLA, then did the full drink/meal service after we got going from GLA, so carts were in the aisles quite a bit. From what I remember, most of the B757's had a forward lav in Y (just in front of door 2L), then 2 more in the back. If this new A321 variant is similar, I really don't see any problems.
Jun 21, 2019, 2:55 pm
#45
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Long shot but wonder if they'd open any Africa routes? Casablanca for when Royal Air Maroc joins OW? Seems like you can reach a fair bit of west Africa on that map, like Dakar and Accra - but I'm not sure what the demand is.
Last edited by rdurlabhji; Jun 21, 2019 at 3:05 pm Reason: wrong hub