Indiana celebrated the return of non -scales flights to Europe this summer when Aer Lingus landed at the Indianapolis International Airport (IND) in May.
Linking the capital of the west medium with the Dublin (Dub) and Europe Airport beyond that, the premises announced the flight as a driver of tourism and economic development.
The route to IND from DUB was thanks to the last long -range model of the aircraft manufacturer: the A321XLR of a corridor. Able to fly around 180 passengers of up to 5,400 miles, it is the last member of the popular Airbus A321neo family, announced by its ability to open new, longer and longer (thinner “(markets with latent demand, but not enough to guarantee traditional routes of 200 more than 200 sesat).
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“It’s a fantastic plane for us,” said Chris Keen, director of network planning at Aer Lingus, at the World Route Conference in Hong Kong last week.
Keen led the team that selected IND and Nashville International Airport (BNA) as the first two new destinations for the A321XLR in Aer Lingus. The airline also flies the plane to Dulles International Airport (IAD) near Washington, DC and, As of April 2026It will fly to Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) in North Carolina.
Luis Gallego, CEO of International Airlines Group, which has Aer Lingus along with British Airways and Iberia, said in August that the A321XLR opens “highly profitable flying through the frequency, seasonality and opportunities of specific networks.”
Iberia plans to use its A321xlrs to Open new routes to the International Airport of Philadelphia (PHL) and, perhaps, the Toronto Pearson (Yyz) airport in 2026.
And, more importantly, for travelers, A321xlr that fly in Aer lingus and Iberia have modern and well equipped interiors that are comfortable to fly.
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Tom Fitzgerald, aviation analyst at TD Cowen, wrote on Saturday that, according to the airline data, the flyers qualify the experience in the A321xlrs as comparable to those of the largest twin planes, citing stages of net promoters who measure the will of a customer to recommend a product.
A321XLRS can’t get quickly enough
Keen cited that the problem is the limited availability of A321xlr; The executives of other airlines echoed this. Aer lingus only has orders for six aircraft, the last one waiting for the end of the year. And his brother, Iberia, awaits his last eight A321xlr at the end of the year.
“We believe there are many more things we could do with more planes,” Keen said.
Obtaining more is a complex problem. Airbus faced delays that certified the A321XLR, which, together with well -documented supply chain challenges, delayed the delivery of the first aircraft for more than a year.
American Airlines, one of the largest A321xLR Great plans for the plane. The delivery of its first plane last summer, only to park it in the Czech Republic, waiting for seats delayed by the problems of the supply chain of the entire industry.
With the order book for new Airbus aircraft that extend in the early 2030s, there is no quick option to obtain more A321xlrs soon. Greece’s Aegean airlines, for example, took the opportunity to Buy two A321XLR with expiration in 2026 From Jetblue in July to accelerate its long distance expansion with new flights to India.
IAG has options for 14 more A321xlr, but has not said when those planes could arrive if they became firm orders.
An Airbus spokesman said that the aircraft manufacturer aims to produce 75 A320neo-Family aircraft per month by 2027, but refused to say how many of them are A321xlr.
The airline approach in the A321xlr to open new long -distance routes is, in part, because Boeing does not offer a size plane comparable with a similar range. The plans for a “new medium aircraft” of Boeing were on an indefinite waiting in early 2020, effectively giving that market segment to Airbus.
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A full service airlines airlines …
For full service carriers, such as Aer Lingus, American Airlines and United Airlines, who plan to offer a lower density design with commercial and economic seats, the A321xlr seems to be a winner.
Although it is understood that its operating range is about hundreds of miles less than the 5,400 miles announced, thanks to the security modifications required by European regulators, the A321xLR can fly among many cities in the east of the United States and Western Europe.
For Aer Lingus, with its Dublin center located as close to North America as a European city can be, the A321xlr can reach at least nashville destinations, about 3,905 miles from Dublin. Keen did not say where the plane could fly for the airline if I had more jets, but the Dub-BNA route indicates destinations such as Detroit County Metropolitan Airport (DTW), Minneapolis-ST. Paul International Airport (MSP) and Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) are possible.
American and United Executives similarly see a significant potential for the A321XLR to open new routes to Europe from their respective PHL and IAD centers. And Qantas is excited about equally long route opportunities in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands of its Australian centers.
Aer lingus has some concerns with the capabilities of A321xlr. The airline anticipates payload restrictions, where you must block the seats or transport less load to operate a flight, on the routes to the United States this winter when the planes to the west face stronger head winds, Keen said.
Airdaminas do not like payload restrictions, since they reduce the income potential of a flight.
… but not necessarily for budget carriers
The A321XLR can fall short for budget airlines interested in flying the plane in a high density design on longer flights. More seats, plus passengers and their luggage, add weight to a plane that becomes another problem when their completely loaded abilities are already a question.
A presentation of investors from Iberia in June put the maximum range of the plane at approximately 4,500 miles, or approximately 900 miles less than the number announced by Airbus, when established with 192 seats.
Aer lingus and Iberia, with 184 and 182 seats in their A321xlr, respectively, can apparently fly their planes further than the distance of 4,500 miles in the presentation. But for the Hungarian discount Wizz Air, which places 239 seats in its A321xlrs, the range would probably be lower.
József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air, said Bloomberg in August that the A321xlr of the airline had “had a lower performance in terms of weight and rank.” Since then, the budget airline has converted most of its order for 47 A321xlrs to other A320neo-Family models.
US Discounter Frontier Airlines has also converted its order for 18 A321xlr to other Airbus models.
An Airbus spokesman affirmed the range of 5,400 miles of A321xlr, added that they could not comment on a “operation of a specific airline.”
“The plane probably will not have the range to make some of the routes that people hoped to see, such as the east coast of Rome,” Brett Snyder, author of the Walker Blog and Analysis and Coanfrerion website of “The aerial show“Podcast, he said about the A321XLR in an email earlier this year. However, he added that he will create an” opportunity to stretch and try new things, “especially in full -service carriers.
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