The radical new aircraft set to shake up global travel
A new aircraft model that entered service this month is poised to change the way we fly – and weaken the dominance of mega-airports such as Heathrow in the process. On the face of it, Airbus’s A321 XLR is indistinguishable from others in the company’s single-aisle jet family – the type of plane you’d board for a short flight to Europe. But hidden within its hold is a huge fuel tank that can keep the plane in the air for another hour and half, or 700 nautical miles (1296km), compared to short-haul jets. That allows it to connect cities up to 4700 nautical miles apart – further than London to Delhi – and gives the XLR its name: Extra Long Range. Flight times will stretch to 10, or even 11, hours. What is most special about the XLR, however, is that it can span the globe despite being a narrow-body plane of a size that would normally serve locations only a few hours apart. That makes it suited to serving far-flung destinations from airports that would struggle to fill the larger planes usually deployed for long haul. It is this combination of range and size that makes the XLR unique, and has won it more than 500 orders from airlines. The XLR’s first customer, Iberia of Spain, began operations on November 14 with services from Madrid to Boston, while the second, Ireland’s Aer Lingus, plans to use its first planes for flights from Dublin to Nashville and Indianapolis. Flying from Manchester or Edinburgh to Seattle and Portland on the US West Coast would also be well within the XLR’s capabilities. Industry watchers predict such non-stop services would be popular with travellers, shaving hours off today’s indirect routes that currently mean people who live outside of major capitals often have to travel to these cities’ airports first before completing their onward journey.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2024-11-25/general/the-radical-new-aircraft-set-to-shake-up-global-travel
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The radical new aircraft set to shake up global travel
A new aircraft model that entered service this month is poised to change the way we fly – and weaken the dominance of mega-airports such as Heathrow in the process. On the face of it, Airbus’s A321 XLR is indistinguishable from others in the company’s single-aisle jet family – the type of plane you’d board for a short flight to Europe. But hidden within its hold is a huge fuel tank that can keep the plane in the air for another hour and half, or 700 nautical miles (1296km), compared to short-haul jets. That allows it to connect cities up to 4700 nautical miles apart – further than London to Delhi – and gives the XLR its name: Extra Long Range. Flight times will stretch to 10, or even 11, hours. What is most special about the XLR, however, is that it can span the globe despite being a narrow-body plane of a size that would normally serve locations only a few hours apart. That makes it suited to serving far-flung destinations from airports that would struggle to fill the larger planes usually deployed for long haul. It is this combination of range and size that makes the XLR unique, and has won it more than 500 orders from airlines. The XLR’s first customer, Iberia of Spain, began operations on November 14 with services from Madrid to Boston, while the second, Ireland’s Aer Lingus, plans to use its first planes for flights from Dublin to Nashville and Indianapolis. Flying from Manchester or Edinburgh to Seattle and Portland on the US West Coast would also be well within the XLR’s capabilities. Industry watchers predict such non-stop services would be popular with travellers, shaving hours off today’s indirect routes that currently mean people who live outside of major capitals often have to travel to these cities’ airports first before completing their onward journey.<br/>
