The Airbus A321XLR - Coming Soon? | #DeepDive

part of the A320 Neo family of aircraft the Airbus a321 XLR is currently the longest range narrow body aircraft in production anywhere in the world with a range of 4700 nautical miles or 8700 km and a passenger capacity between 175 and 220 people Airbus markets this aircraft as a replacement for the Aging Boeing 757 in this video we will discuss the a321 XLR how it came into the spotlight its strengths and drawbacks and its interest and orders the Airbus a321 XLR or extra long range is the third iteration of the a321 Neo family succeeding the a321 LR launched at the 2019 Paris Air Show to Great Fanfare the XLR became an instant hit with several customers including those in the previously very insular Market of the United States this immediately presented airbuzz rival Boeing with a huge dilemma Boeing did not and still does not have a product that compete on both size and range since the closure of the 757 Productions back in 2004 Airlines across the world were poised and ready to order what is dubbed the Boeing 797 or what Boeing itself refers to as the nma or new midsize airplane rumors of an nma first appeared in 2015 and anticipation steadily grew in the Years following 2015 however Boeing needed to prioritize other issues over quality control and safety regarding the three main aircraft in production the 737 Max 787 Dreamliner and tri 7x with these Newfound priorities at Boeing the company's momentum and enthusiasm for an nma wean and design research largely stagnated until 202 22 with many approximate Concepts outlined but nothing decided upon in 2022 Boeing stated it would halt any nma development for at least a couple of years Boeing signaled that it was waiting for developments in new engine and digital tooling Technologies to evolve to the required standard this lack of competition from Boeing left Airbus as the sole manufacturer with an aircraft that could bridge this capacity Gap and provide a close replacement to the Boeing 75 7 with this clear Gap in the market and an aircraft that could fill it Airbus launched the a321 XLR in June 2023 and customers quickly swarmed the promising airliner customers on the launch day included American Airlines quantis Air Arabia Iberia and Air Lingus among others by the end of the Paris air show the type had already amassed over 200 orders building off the success of the a321 LR of 2015 the a321 xlr's main selling point besides being the only main option to replace the 757 in terms of range and capacity was its advertised 30% greater efficiency over the 757 furthermore although not a clean sheet design Airlines already operating the A320 and A320 Neo family would be able to minimize retraining time for flight cruise and being of a pre-existing design the XLR would be a relatively inexpensive replace bement for the 757 this makes the XLR a rather lowrisk option for most customers the a321 XLR signifies a diversification of the Airbus design philosophy except for the Airbus A310 in the 1980s Airbus has seldom experimented with aircraft design for point-to-point travel instead choosing to cater to the hub and spoke Market the difference is that a hub and spoke Network consist of smaller aircraft such as the A320 family flying a large short hall route Network connecting a region to one main airport the passengers then disembark and board a larger aircraft such as the a350 or A380 to fly longer distances all connecting through the convenience of one Central Hub that way passengers from many different Origins can travel from anywhere to anywhere greatly enlarging the catchment area for passengers on any specific flight an example of this can be with Emirates and its hub in Dubai passengers from multiple countries across their Network for example passengers from Greece Pakistan and Sweden will Converge on Dubai all Converge on an onward connecting flight to Melbourne Jakarta or Singapore or vice versa however in point-to-point travel the importance of the Hub is largely eliminated as is the need for a larger plane in this practice a small aircraft such as an a321 Neo will fly a smaller number of passengers between City pairs with insufficient demand for widebody jets an example is Iceland Air's route from ruic to Seattle a service currently operated with a Boeing 737 Max 8 externally the XLR is identical to the rest of the a321 Neo family the main differences lie within the xlr's main difference is its additional fuel tank in the rear of the aircraft as well as the enlargement of the center Wing tank this is designed to give it a range of 4700 nautical miles up from the original a321 Neo's 4,000 nautical miles furthermore XLR features A reduced maximum capacity of 220 passengers compared to the regular Neo 244 however it's the aircraft's fuel tanks that have been plaguing the XLR program and delaying its entry into service problems were first noticed with the aircraft rear center fuel tank known as rear center tank or RCT in March 2021 when the European agent C safety agency outlined concerns over the Tank's design integral to the aircraft's fuselage While most fuel tanks are made separately and installed during manufacturing this tank is built as part of the fuselage the EA's complaint to Airbus suggest that the RCT would create a cold feet effect for passengers seated directly above it furthermore an integrated RCT would create a higher risk of burn through between the RCT and the passenger cabin in case of a fire the easa proposed installing insulation panels inside the tank to protect passengers against cold feet protect the cabin from fire and comply with burn through regulations during this period of public inquiry Airbus main competitor Boeing commented on the matter via their Global regulatory strategic director mild tregler tregler outlined several key issues with the RCT such integral fuel tanks can foreseeably result in more hazardous outcomes when exposed to threats such as an external pool Le fire she went on to outline that internal Vapors could be at risk of ignition through a process called internal volume heating tregler continued with heat transfer characteristics will be affected by the absence of a conventional configuration featuring insulation against the fuselage external skin and potential presence of fuel in direct contact with the fuselage external skin her statements outline that the rear center tank threatened the survivability of a normally survivable off- Runway or landing gear failure event in agreement with a similar document released by The easa itself despite the easa agreeing with Boeing's findings Airbus was initially unfazed by these findings hitting back with the suggestion that there would not be enough space for insulation paneling between the floor and the RCT furthermore Airbus outlined that adequate ventilation must be ensured to Ure a lack of vapors in the RCT however this would be impossible if burn through compliant panels were added to the fuel tank years passed without an agreement on this issue all while Airbus continued its flight testing and certification program for the XLR however an agreement was made in July 2023 between the easa and Airbus with regards to the rear center tank the agreement outlined that the tank would now be lined with a special protective liner as well as other associated reinforcements to the tank and fuselage all in all it has been suggested that the modification to the planes could weigh up to 800 kg extra this additional weight and reduced Fuel Volume are speculated to bring the xlr's range down closer to 4500 nautical miles which is not too dissimilar with the XLR shorter range sibling the a321 LR despite this an Airbus spokesperson stated Airbus expects no significant impact on the XL R's unique range advantage in this single aisle segment despite its projected reduced range it has been suggested that the XLR can do more than the 757 as outlined by Iceland Air in October of 2023 even with the reduced range of the XLR it is still projected to outdo the 757-200 on Range by approximately 600 nautical miles still allowing greater flexibility over the 757 and other competition similarly the XLR can leverage its commonality with other Airbus aircraft especially the A320 family its modernity in relation to the 757 also plays into the xlr's favor in terms of airframe age and wear meaning lower maintenance cost as well as the previously mentioned A320 commonality meaning greater and cheaper availability of training a flight and ground Cruise despite flaws found during testing it is arguable that the a321 XLR still has a strong Competitive Edge and will still be a leader in class regarding narrow body Long Haul routes in the future according to Airbus the xlr's order book stands at 550 orders from over 25 Airlines and leasing companies aside from the ones mentioned previously notable orders came from lowcost carriers particularly ones owned by Indigo Partners not to be confused with Indigo Airlines which owns Frontier Airlines whiz a and jetsmart between the three Airlines they have 79 xlrs on order what's interesting is that all these are lowcost carriers and the fact that these aircraft are being ordered by these Airlines is perhaps a snapshot of what the future holds for the XLR in addition to being used by full service carriers the combination of commonality with the A320 family and its exceptional range could open up a sustainable and widespread Long Haul local cost travel markets to Europe and the Americas in terms of executing its main aim of replacing the Boeing 757-200 the XLR and perhaps lack of competition has been able to turn many of the world's notable 757 operators to Airbus there are previously mentioned American Airlines United Airlines and Air Lingus but notably Iceland Air has penned its name to 13 xlrs in addition to 7 a321 lrs to replace their aging lead of 757s as said before Iceland Air has stated that the XLR can do more than the 757 signifying confidence in the type to perform what it set out to do initially this could set a precedent for other 757 dependent operators to convert as well in addition with the lack of any serious competition from Boeing 737 Max family and no 797 to worry about for the time being the a321 XLR is an aircraft without a peer in its class as such with it being a safe option for Airlines the XLR has the potential to be a true best seller for Airbus and an aircraft adored by the companies that fly it the XLR also has the potential to damage the prospects of future Boeing 797 many airlines that would have otherwise ordered the 797 but urgently needed to replace their 757s have already ordered the XLR and as such by the time the 797 is announced or enter service there will be far fewer aircraft for it to replace and Boeing May well have lost certain customers to Airbus currently the a321 XLR has carved itself a sizable niche in the market showing itself to be a very versatile aircraft it has been ordered by many airlines from across the Spectrum who all seem eager to get their hands on these Jets as though this is the aircraft the industry has been waiting for the Airbus A3 321 XLR is an aircraft that is far from faultless however Airbus has elected to remedy these faults as it sees the potential of this Niche airliner it was arguably released at just the right time it was easily marketable to prospective customers through the extensive and easily accessible training and maintenance programs associated with a wider A320 family the XLR is on track to complete its main task of replacing the Boeing 757 for Airlines previously dependent on the type furthermore it has garnered new interests from airlines that previously never operated Long Hall narrow body Services across the middle east Europe and the Americas and a significant interest from both lowcost and fullservice carriers the speed at which airlines have been queuing up to fly the XLR shows not only that this was a desperately needed type for the industry but also that a potential shift in Long Haul Airline operating Dynamics could well Beyond the Horizon of course this should all be taken with a certain amount of skepticism as the XLR has not yet entered service and no operational data can be ascertained regardless it is very clear that the Airbus a321 XLR has the potential to be an aircraft that could somewhat revolutionize the way we fly and has the power to reach many new smaller markets further democratizing the world's Skies e

Channel: Airways Magazine

Views: 17,234

Keywords: Airways Magazine, Aviation, News, Aircraft, Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Boeing 747, 747, A380, airways, magazine, airplane, aircraft, helicopter, jet, USA, America, Aviation Industry, airlines, travel, news

Id: Z-PZDELNd_4

Length: 14min 38sec (878 seconds)

Published: Sun May 19 2024