Indiana celebrated the return of nonstop flights to Europe this summer when Aer Lingus landed at Indianapolis International Airport (IND) in May.
Linking the Midwestern capital with Dublin Airport (DUB) and Europe beyond that, the flight was heralded by locals as a driver of both tourism and economic development.
The route to IND from DUB was thanks to plane-maker Airbus’ latest long-range model: the single-aisle A321XLR. Capable of flying about 180 passengers up to 5,400 miles, it is the latest member of the popular Airbus A321neo family, heralded for its ability to open new, longer, “thinner” (markets with latent demand but not enough to warrant traditional 200-plus-seat wide-body) routes.
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“It’s a fantastic aircraft for us,” Chris Keen, director of network planning at Aer Lingus, said at the Routes World 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 at Aer Lingus. The airline also flies the plane to Dulles International Airport (IAD) near Washington, D.C., and, beginning in April 2026, will fly it to Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) in North Carolina.
Luis Gallego, CEO of International Airlines Group, which owns Aer Lingus along with British Airways and Iberia, said in August that the A321XLR opens up “highly profitable flying through frequency, seasonality and point-to-point network opportunities.”
Iberia plans to use its A321XLRs to open new routes to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) and, maybe, Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ) in 2026.
And, importantly to travelers, the A321XLRs flying at Aer Lingus and Iberia have modern, well-appointed interiors that are comfortable for flying.
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Tom Fitzgerald, an aviation analyst at TD Cowen, wrote on Saturday that, based on data from airlines, flyers rate the experience on the A321XLRs as comparable to that on larger twin-aisle planes, citing net promoter scores that measure a customer’s willingness to recommend a product.
A321XLRs can’t arrive fast enough
Keen cited that the problem is the limited availability of the A321XLR; executives at other airlines echoed this. Aer Lingus only has orders for six planes, the last of which it expects by the end of the year. And its sister carrier, Iberia, expects its last of eight A321XLRs by year-end.
“We think there are a lot more things we could do with more aircraft,” Keen said.
Getting more is a complex problem. Airbus faced delays certifying the A321XLR, which, coupled with well-documented supply chain challenges, pushed back delivery of the first aircraft by over a year.
American Airlines, one of Airbus’ largest A321XLR customers, has big plans for the plane. It took delivery of its first plane this past summer, only to park it in the Czech Republic, awaiting seats delayed by the industry-wide supply chain issues.
Business class on board Aer Lingus’ A321XLR. BEN SMITHSON/THE POINTS GUY
With the order book for new planes from Airbus stretching into the early 2030s, there is no speedy option to get more A321XLRs soon. Greece’s Aegean Airlines, for example, jumped on the opportunity to buy two A321XLRs due in 2026 from JetBlue in July in order to accelerate its long-haul expansion with new flights to India.
IAG has options for 14 more A321XLRs, but it has not said when those planes could arrive if they were converted into firm orders.
An Airbus spokesperson said the plane-maker aims to produce 75 A320neo-family planes a month by 2027 but declined to say how many of those are A321XLRs.
Airlines’ focus on the A321XLR to open new, thinner long-haul routes is, in part, because Boeing offers no comparably sized plane with a similar range. Plans for a “New Midsize Airplane” from Boeing were put on indefinite hold in early 2020, effectively ceding that segment of the market to Airbus.
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A plane for full-service airlines …
For full-service carriers — like Aer Lingus, American Airlines and United Airlines — that plan to offer a lower-density layout with both business and economy seats, the A321XLR appears to be a winner.
Even though its operational range is understood to be a few hundred miles less than the advertised 5,400 miles, thanks to safety modifications required by European regulators, the A321XLR can fly between many cities in the eastern U.S. and Western Europe.
For Aer Lingus, with its Dublin hub positioned about as close to North America as a European city can be, the A321XLR can reach destinations at least as far as Nashville — some 3,905 miles from Dublin. Keen did not say where else the plane could fly for the airline if it had more of the jets, but the DUB-BNA route indicates destinations like Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) and Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) are all possible.
Qantas began flying its first A321XLR on domestic Australia flights Sept. 25. QANTAS
American and United executives similarly see significant potential for the A321XLR to open new routes to Europe from their respective PHL and IAD hubs. And Qantas is excited about similarly lengthy route opportunities in Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands from its Australian hubs.
Aer Lingus does have some concerns with the A321XLR’s capabilities. The airline anticipates payload restrictions — where it either must block seats or carry less cargo to operate a flight — on routes to the U.S. this winter when westbound planes face stronger head winds, Keen said.
Airlines dislike payload restrictions, as they reduce the revenue potential of a flight.
… But not necessarily for budget carriers
The A321XLR may fall short for budget airlines keen to fly the plane in a high-density layout on longer flights. More seats — plus passengers and their luggage — add weight to a plane that becomes more of an issue when its capabilities fully loaded are already a question.
An Iberia investor presentation in June put the plane’s maximum range at roughly 4,500 miles — or about 900 miles less than the number advertised by Airbus — when laid out with 192 seats.
Aer Lingus and Iberia, with 184 and 182 seats on their A321XLRs, respectively, can ostensibly fly their planes farther than the 4,500-mile distance listed in the presentation. But for Hungarian discounter Wizz Air, which puts 239 seats on its A321XLRs, the range would likely be less.
József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air, told Bloomberg in August that the airline’s A321XLR had “underperformed in terms of weight and range.” The budget airline has since converted the majority of its order for 47 A321XLRs to other A320neo-family models.
On board a Wizz Air flight. BEN SMITHSON/THE POINTS GUY
U.S. discounter Frontier Airlines has also converted its order for 18 A321XLRs to other Airbus models.
An Airbus spokesperson affirmed the A321XLR’s 5,400-mile range, adding that they could not comment on a “specific airline’s operation.”
“The airplane likely won’t have the range to do some of the routes people have hoped to see, like East Coast to Rome,” Brett Snyder, author of the Cranky Flier blog and analysis website and co-host of “The Air Show” podcast, said of the A321XLR in an email earlier this year. However, he added that it will create an “opportunity to stretch and try new things,” especially at full-service carriers.
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