An Airbus A321XLR Neo passenger aircraft performs a flight demonstration during the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, France, on Monday, June 19, 2023.
Nathan Lane | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Airbus said on Wednesday it had delivered its first ultra-long-range narrow-body aircraft, the A321XLR, marking another step toward an era of smaller, more fuel-efficient jets Fly further distancesand further widen the delivery gap between Airbus and its competitors boeing company.
The first aircraft has been delivered to Spanish airline Iberia, which plans to make its debut between Madrid and Boston next month. American Airlines and United Airlines Also ordered 321XLR.
Airbus says the XLR can fly non-stop for up to 11 hours, or 4,700 nautical miles, faster than the A321LR, a long-range version of the 321 aircraft used on transatlantic missions such as JetBlue AirwaysService between New York and Amsterdam.
The aircraft manufacturer has been working for five years to get the aircraft certified. The manufacturer says it burns about 30% less fuel than older aircraft.
The European company has ordered more than 500 A321XLRs. That’s just a fraction of the nearly 8,600 planes the company had backlogged as of the end of June, but it is launching a new plane as rival Boeing Co. struggles.
After two fatal crashes involving the 737 Max, boeing company Shelved plans for an entirely new aircraft that would sit between the 737 and the wide-body jetliner, and potentially replace the aging 757s that currently sit between the two.
The company is now planning lose weight, layoffs and may shed operations it considers not core to save cash and improve quality.
“Boeing is an airplane company, on an oil rigHourAt some point in the future, we will need to develop a new aircraft, but we have a lot of work to do before that,” new CEO Kelly Ortberg said on an earnings call last week.
