First look: The new jet that will ignite a fresh era for air travel

The Airbus A321XLR, which makes its maiden flight today, promises to give passengers more holiday options than ever before

At 12.35pm today, Captain Jose Del Valle, Iberia’s chief pilot, will push forward the throttle on flight IB347. The plane will race down the runway at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport and fly for nine hours to Boston. Iberia has been flying from Madrid to Boston for years, so why will Del Valle tell customers they are “making history”?
The Boeing 747 veteran will be captaining the first long-haul passenger flight of the new Airbus A321XLR jet. It marks the start of a new era in air travel that will offer passengers new cabins, new routes and more choice of when and where to fly.
The A321XLR is a single-aisle jet – the newest model in the Airbus A320 family of planes that most of us will have boarded on short-haul British Airways and easyJet flights to and from European destinations. Such jets can usually only fly for a few hours but improved aerodynamics, larger fuel tanks and engines that burn less fuel per mile mean the XLR can fly for up to 11 hours and cover 4,700 miles. That puts cities like Delhi or Atlanta in range of any western European airport.
Airlines favour the new small long-range jet because with only around 200 seats it is easier to fill than large, twin-aisle planes, such as the Boeing 777 and 787, Airbus’s A380 superjumbo and its A330 and A350 models, which can accommodate up to 550 passengers. That gives carriers the chance to open new long-haul routes that would be uneconomic to operate with larger, harder-to-fill jets, or to offer more services on existing routes.
Take today’s flight IB347. Iberia’s Madrid to Boston service runs almost every day. The A321XLR means that Iberia can now offer new extra services during the peak summer months, sometimes going double daily. Iberia will also use it to start a year-round Madrid to Washington service from next year.
“This aircraft is a game-changer because it will enable countless new non-stop destinations, opening a new chapter in air connectivity,” says Marco Sansavini, President of Iberia.
Aer Lingus has bought the A321XLR and next year will use it to start flying from Dublin to Nashville and to Indianapolis for the first time. Wizz is opting to start services from London Gatwick to Jeddah and Milan to Abu Dhabi. Major international carriers, including American Airlines and Qantas, are among the airlines to have ordered more than 500 A321XLRs between them. United Airlines is looking to the XLR to replace its ageing, fuel-guzzling Boeing 757s. Expect to find yourself on one soon.
What do we have to look forward to? I had a sneak peek at the A321XLR in the hangar at Barajas Airport yesterday.
New routes and services are always welcome. Those who like to get on and off quickly and not wait so long for bags and the carousel will definitely think small is beautiful. The dedicated hand luggage only brigade will – and this is not too strong a word – rejoice at the vast overhead bins.
But those who find themselves aboard the A321 on a route on which they would usually expect to board a wide-bodied jet might be disappointed. The A321 is small and feels even smaller thanks to those overhead bins.
The business-class suites – 14 on the Iberia jet, while others may have more, or in Wizz’s case none at all – are narrower than those found on wide-bodied jets, but beds are big enough to sleep comfortably, with a big footwell. But working on a laptop, especially with a mouse, will be tricky, not least because the tray table is small and only hinged on one side so it wobbles. If you want to work, snag one of the two front row suites, which have extra room in front. The TV in each suite is a generous 18.5in 4K screen which can be angled to face downward, so you can easily watch when lying down. There is only one lavatory.
The 168 seats in the economy class cabin have a seat pitch – the measure of leg room – of only 30in. Emirates and Virgin Atlantic offer up to 34in in economy. But Antonio da Costa, VP of Single-Aisle Marketing at Airbus, points out that the seats themselves are so thin – “yet still comfortable” – that the 30in “feels like 32in”.
Choose your economy seat wisely. The front and exit row seats have so much extra legroom they are on par with premium economy. They are worth paying extra for. Some rows do not recline because they might obstruct an emergency exit.
The headrests in all economy class seats are robust and the sides wrap around your head, making it it easier to sleep. The TV is a 12in 4K screen and there is Bluetooth connectivity for headsets and new USB Type-A and Type-C charging ports.
Wifi is free in all classes for WhatsApp or text messaging and emails without attachments. There are only three tiny lavatories and two of those you have to walk across the galley to get to.
My verdict? Enjoy the new routes and make sure you beg, borrow or steal to get an extra legroom seat. If you find yourself in a regular seat, content yourself with a little eco-smugness. The A321XLR’s engines burn the least fuel per passenger of any jet – 30 per cent less than the generation of aircraft it replaces, Airbus says. This makes an economy seat the greenest way to fly long-haul.