Irish airline Aer Lingus (EI/EIN) has taken delivery of the first two of six Airbus A321XLRs at its home base of Dublin (DUB/EIDW).
The two aircraft have been registered EI-XLR and EI-XLT and named St Lelia / Liadhain and St Melanie / Mella respectively.
These extra long range variants of the A321 single-aisle airliner can fly up to 8,700km and Aer Lingus will utilise the initial aircraft on routes from Dublin to Nashville and Indianapolis in 2025.
Lynne Embleton, Chief Executive, Aer Lingus, said: “The arrival of our two new Airbus A321XLRs mark a significant milestone for Aer Lingus. The long-range capabilities of the XLR enable us to travel deeper into North America, offering previously unserved markets greater connectivity to Europe through our Dublin hub. Both new XLR aircraft will operate on our newly announced routes to Nashville and Indianapolis for summer 2025. Looking ahead, we’re on target to expand our XLR fleet from two to six aircraft in 2025, further strengthening our position as a market leader in North American connectivity.”
Benoît de Saint Exupéry, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer, added: “Aer Lingus becomes the latest operator of the world’s newest single-aisle aircraft: the A321XLR. It will truly revolutionise long-haul travel, allowing airlines to tap into new exciting city pairings as will be demonstrated by Aer Lingus. We stand alongside Aer Lingus and will together make its growing fleet of A321XLRs a resounding success operationally and with passengers.”
Aer Lingus has configured their A321XLRs to seat 184 passengers in a two-class configuration. this is made up of 16 lie flat business class seats and 168 economy class seats. The airspace cabin with its larger overhead cabin bins can also accommodate 60% more cabin bags than previous cabins.
The aircraft also offer a 20% reduction in fuel consumption compared to previous versions and can operate on 50% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) helping Aer Lingus
