JetBlue `seriously' considers buying long-range Airbus A321

JetBlue Airways, which plans to add seats to its Airbus planes, may add a longer range, narrow-body aircraft from the jet maker and won’t rule out buying wide-body versions. “The A321LR is something we are looking very seriously at,” JetBlue CE Robin Hayes said Tuesday. “We think the incremental amount of complexity that provides is very manageable.” While adding twin-aisle planes with greater range “is a much bigger deal,” Hayes said he wouldn’t exclude it as “potentially something further out” for the based airline. Airbus in 2014 began discussing plans with airlines for a new variant of the single-aisle A321neo that would feature extra fuel tanks to increase range and could enter service in early 2019. The extended-range A321 would offer 100 nautical miles more than Boeing’s 757-200, and have a similar seat count. <br/>