The Airbus A321 XLR was certified this summer. The Spanish company Iberia will be able to receive the first model from its factory in Hamburg, Germany, at the beginning of the school year. The companies that ordered it are eagerly awaiting this new aircraft, which has no shortage of advantages.
Firstly, because it is the smallest of the long-haul aircraft. Unlike an Airbus A330 or a Boeing 787, which are wider and include two aisles for boarding and disembarking passengers, the XLR version of the A321 is like all those older mid-size connecting aircraft: it is a “single aisle”.
Autonomy of 8700 km, 11 hours of non-stop flight
Even with just one type of seat on board, it cannot carry more than 220 passengers. But thanks to all the tanks it is equipped with, it is capable of providing connections of up to 8,700 km. So there is no problem in making a New York-Rome or a London-Vancouver.
On flights that can last eleven hours, the comfort expected by passengers travelling in business class becomes essential. Companies that wish to do so can equip a “business” cabin comparable to that of their largest aircraft with seats that can be converted into beds, respect the privacy of each passenger and offer them a giant screen for watching films.
But what is the point for a company to have such a small plane to fly long distances? First, save money. These planes cost much less than large planes and also consume less fuel.
30% less fuel per passenger when the plane is full
Airbus claims that, compared to previous generation aircraft, a company that chooses the A321 XLR will save 30% of fuel per seat. This makes it much easier to make these aircraft profitable. This is enough to expand its offering with intercontinental connections where the passenger potential was until now insufficient to create a direct connection.
All these advantages are of interest to several companies which, unlike Air France or Emirates, have not opted for a strategy based primarily on a connecting platform, considering it crucial to attract customers in order to increase the number of direct connections. And then, obviously, there are all those companies that are betting on the low-cost model and the long-haul version. There are more and more of them. Wizzair, Air Asia and Air Arabia have bought dozens of them. In total, more than 500 units of the latest Airbus have been ordered.
Source: BFM TV
