New Airbus A321XLR, how will it affect passengers?

The launch of the new long-range A321XLR twinjet presented at the Paris air show was a big success for Airbus. Over 240 planes have been ordered already.

With all the problems regarding the Boeing 737Max, this was the ideal time to present the A321XLR to the public.

The Airbus 321XLR isn’t an all-new plane, but with a 4700 NM/8700 km range, the 180 to 220 seat A321XLR can fly even farther than the current Airbus A321LR.

Both LR and XLR are variants of the Airbus A321neo, itself a stretched and re-engined version of the company’s very popular A320 family of twin-jet.

Here’s a possible range map for the A321XLR:

What does the A321XLR mean for passengers?

Well the A321XLR can fly routes that normally are flown by widebody aircrafts.

It’s a bit early to tell if this will be an improvement or a downturn for passengers, as airlines haven’t presented their seating configurations for the A321XLR yet.

In genereal we can say that it really depends on the particular airline itself and not on the airplane, as they decide how cramped the cabin will be.

We already know that it’s possible for economy class or business class on a single-aisle plane to be more comfortable than the equivalent seating on a widebody jet, one example is JetBlue with their Mint Class.