Indiana celebrated uninterrupted flights back to Europe this summer when Aer Lingus landed at Indianapolis International Airport (IND) in May.
Linking the Midwest capital to Dublin Airport (DUB) and Europe, in addition, the flight was announced by locals, a driver of tourism and economic development.
The pathway from DUB is attributed to the latest remote model of the Bland-Mimaker Airbus: a single A321XLR. It is capable of flying about 5,400 miles for about 180 passengers, the latest addition to the popular Airbus A321Neo family, announced for its ability to open up new, longer “thin” (a market for potential demand, but not enough to guarantee the traditional 200-seat seating seat with a wide wide body) route.
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“It’s a great plane for us,” Aer Lingus’s network planning director Chris Keen said at the Route World Conference in Hong Kong last week.
Keen led the team to select IND and Nashville International Airport (BNA) as the first two new destinations for the AER Lingus A321XLR. The airline will also fly to Dulles International Airport (IAD) near Washington, D.C., and will start in April 2026 to Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) in North Carolina.
International Airlines Group CEO Luis Gallego, who owns AER Lingus along with British Airways and Iberia, said in August that the A321XLR has opened “high-profit flights through frequency, seasonal, seasonal and peer-to-peer network opportunities”.
Iberia plans to open a new route to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) using its A321XLRS, perhaps the 2026 Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ).
And, importantly, for travelers, the A321XLR flying in Aer Lingus and Iberia has a modern, well-equipped interior that is perfect for flying.
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TD Cowen aviation analyst Tom Fitzgerald wrote on Saturday that the flyer review of the experience on the A321XLRS was comparable to the experience on the larger twins’ powerplane, citing a net promoter score to measure customers’ willingness to recommend products, according to airline data.
A321XLR doesn’t arrive fast enough
The keen mention of the issue is the limited availability of the A321XLR; executives from other airlines responded to this. Aer Lingus has only six aircraft orders, and by the end of this year, its last aircraft is expected. Its sister carrier Iberia is expected to make the last of its eight A321xlrs by the end of the year.
“We think more planes can do more,” Keane said.
Getting more is a complex problem. Airbus delayed the delivery of the first aircraft by more than a year in the face of delays in the A321XLR, coupled with well-documented supply chain challenges.
American Airlines, one of the largest A321XLR customers, has made huge plans for the aircraft. Last summer, it took its first plane to park it in the Czech Republic, waiting for a delay in the seat.
With order books for new aircraft from Airbus to the early 2030s, there is no quick option to get more A321XLR as soon as possible. For example, Greece’s Aegean Airelines jumped on the chance to buy two A321XLRs from JetBlue in July to accelerate its long-distance expansion with new flights to India.
IAG has another 14 A321XLR options, but if these aircraft are converted to solid orders, there is no saying when they will arrive.
An Airbus spokesman said the aircraft manufacturer aims to produce 75 A320neo family aircraft per month by 2027, but declined to say how many of them are the A321XLR.
The airline is focusing on the A321XLR opening up new, thinner long-distance routes, partly because Boeing doesn’t offer similar-size planes in similar ranges. Boeing’s “new medium-sized aircraft” plan was held indefinitely in early 2020, effectively ceding the market to Airbus.
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For full-service airlines such as Aer Lingus, American Airlines and United Airlines, the program plans to offer a lower density layout while offering both commercial and economic seats, the A321XLR seems to be the winner.
Although it is understood that its operating range is several hundred miles less than the advertised 5,400 miles due to safety modifications required by European regulators, the A321XLR can fly between many cities in the United States, Eastern and Western Europe.
For Aer Lingus, its Dublin hub is located in North America, and like European cities, the A321XLR can reach at least Nashville to its destination – about 3,905 miles from Dublin. Keane didn’t say where the plane could fly if there were more jets, but the DUB-BNA route directed destinations like Minneapolis Street, such as Detroit’s metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW). Both Paul International Airport (MSP) and Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) are possible.
The US and United executives also see the huge potential of the A321XLR to open up new routes from their respective PHL and IAD hubs. Qantas is excited about the chances of similar long routes in Australia’s hubs in Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands.
Aer Lingus does have some concerns about the capabilities of the A321XLR. Keane said the airline expects payload restrictions (which must block seats or less cargo to run the aircraft) to the U.S. route this winter, when westbound planes face stronger headwinds.
Airlines don’t like payload restrictions because they reduce the revenue potential of flights.
…but not necessarily for budget operators
The A321XLR may be short of budget airlines that are eager to fly at a high density on longer flights. More seats – plus passengers and their luggage – add to the weight of an aircraft, which has become a problem when its functionality is fully loaded.
An Iberian investor speech in June put the aircraft’s maximum range of about 4,500 miles, about 900 miles less than Airbus’s, when 192 seats were laid out.
The Aer Lingus and Iberia have 184 and 182 seats on their A321XLR, respectively, and ostensibly fly the plane further than the 4,500 miles listed in the presentation. However, for the Wizz Air in Hungarian disk (which occupies 239 seats on its A321XLR), that range may be less.
Wizz Air CEO József Váradi told Bloomberg in August that the airline’s A321XLR “has underperformed in terms of weight and range.” The budget airline has since converted most of its 47 A321XLR orders to other A320Neo-Family models.
The U.S. Disconnected Border Airlines also converts its 18 A321XLR orders to other Airbus models.
An Airbus spokesman confirmed the A321XLR’s 5,400-mile range and added that they were unable to comment on “operation of specific airlines.”
“The airplane may not have hoped to see some routes people would like to see, like the East Coast to Rome,” Brett Snyder, author of the Beast of the Beasts blog and analysis website, talked about the A321XLR in an email earlier this year. However, he added, this will create an “opportunity to stretch and try new things”, especially among full-service operators.
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