Aer Lingus Adds Airbus A321XLR To Fleet: What To Expect

Good stuff. As a West Coaster, I don’t think I’ll have the opportunity to experience one myself for a while, unless they start doing once daily LHR service like they do with the current 321.

It's one plane, and Airbus garbage at that. It doesn't deserve a half dozen articles devoted to it and the usual degenerates praising it while hugging their Guillaume Faury waifu pillows.

You might need to switch your flying to Delta to avoid the XLR. 😉

AA and United both smartly purchased the XLR while Delta cried about not getting a special deal.

A321 XLR to stretch its legs.

I will be careful. I've generally avoided UA's 321s, only being caught on them twice due to schedules. I prefer the MAX 9 to the foreign trash.

Delta didn't buy the XLR because the economics of it don't work.
You could have offset some of the operating costs with lower acquisition costs but you can't begin to make the economics work with current US labor rates that are much higher than in Europe and esp on flights over 8 hours.

If you are fixated with comparing AA and UA to other airlines, why don't you ask why the big Euro flags didn't buy the XLR.
IAG is placing the XLR with EI and IB because those two carriers have much smaller premium demand than in the big Euro 3 hubs - LHR, AMS, CDG, FRA, MUC and ZRH

EI and IB offset that low premium demand - and no cargo capability - with a whole lot more total seats than AA and UA will have on their XLRs

spare us how great AA and UA's decisions are while telling us how DL missed out.
AA and UA both bought end of the production line 777Ws after the A350-1000 was already on the horizon; those are relatively young planes for AA and so DL will have a 20-25% operating cost advantage over AA and UA for a decade.

and AA and UA chose not to opt for the A220 or any new generation narrowbody and think that a bunch of RJs or many large medium sized mainline aircraft will serve as an alternative.

Airbus makes great products but just because they offer soemthing doesn't make buying their products smart.

as much as you want to believe that DL's revenue premium comes from gouging people in ATL DTW MSP and SLC, the reality is that DL does a better job of matching aircraft size to demand and has a more efficient and capable fleet than AA or UA

And Delta is unpatriotic or not purchasing from a US company. Period, Timbits. I'm a Gulf War veteran and support companies that buy American. Delta isn't that.

Doesn't stretch them as far and you think or as far as Airbus claims.

AA and UA also heavily purchase from Airbus. So do multiple airlines.

And WN has paid a high price for its singular loyalty to Boeing.

and you do realize that there is a large percentage of content on the 787 that is made outside of the USA?
just as there is US content on Airbus aircraft with some of the A320 and A220 families assembled in the US.

Tell us the percentage of the content in your home that was manufactured in the US - and it would be clear that YOU are the unpatriotic party here.

Yeah, but Delta hasn't bought new from Boeing in decades. Ed Bastian has his head so far up Guillaume Faury's fundament that he can dictate a colonoscopy to Faury's doctor. American companies should patronize American companies first. And I don't count Alabama as America for good reason.

because Boeing built high quality products in the 757 and 767 plus the 737 that DL is one of the largest Boeing operators in the world.

And DL does have the MAX on order.

feel free to rant about AA, B6, UA etc and their lack of patriotism or be seen as the hypocrite that you are.

Who knows who Tim's 9 paragraph rant was meant for, but talk about a showcase of ignorance.
Delta didn't get the XLR because they couldn't get a good deal from Airbus and waited too long.

and... In what is always the most fascinating thing about Tim Dunn, he ignores what Delta says about their own profits. They never talk about matching aircraft size to demand lol. They talk about their monopoly Core hubs when talking about what drives their profitability.

You. Can’t. Help. Yourself.

Nowhere does Delta talk about monopoly hubs. Nowhere.

And they most certainly do talk about their fleet strategy.

And YOU clearly are the one on a rant. YOU. BROUGHT. DELTA. INTO. THE. DISCUSSION.

AND as usual you get the facts wrong.

Walk. Away. The discussion is about EI.

tim; "Delta delta delta" on this article

Also Tim: "The discussion is about EI"

lol. I said ORD should fly delta if he hates the XLR lol.

You really should read Delta's investor day presentation. They clearly state their profits are derived primarily from the monopolistic core hubs.

Why do you hate what Delta says about their own profitability so much. Talk about the ultimate in denial.

But, you're right. The article is about the EI XLR and I'm excited for the XLR. Great aircraft that UA and AA got for a steal while Delta "soo close with airbus" was left out because Airbus wouldn't give them a special deal.
Go cry somewhere else, Timmy

not only are you ignorant but you are blind.

I didn't bring Delta up in the article. YOU DID.

Delta does not use the word "monopoly" or "monopolistic"

You inject your own bias, manipulate actual facts and try to repackage it as truth.

And then you launch into insults when someone calls you out.

The article IS about EI

The only one that is crying is you.

And AA and UA both had A350s on order so the only cries will be from AA and UA when Delta uses the A350s to do things that AA and UA can't do with any aircraft in their fleet, let alone at comparable costs.

YOU and you alone hijacked a perfectly good article and still managed to NOT get the facts straight.

My, Oh my, the ignorance of the anti-airbus bigots is prevalent among commenters herein.
Anyone might have thought that the subject article was referring to the Comac C919.
Brand loyalty is all very well, however, blind ignorance of competition brands is unforgivable.

Reading this is a hoot, opinions at 40 paces.

Now, in the spirit of some of the tendentious commentary here, Airbus is just better.

There!

I was lucky enough to spot this aircraft yesterday in Dublin upon her return from Dulles. Was quite amusing to see a little XLR hiding within a sea of green A330s

lol
You are a strange and tragic little man, Tim.

Somehow you're now talking about the Delta A350 once again... what a surprise lol

How you're this obtuse is beyond me

strange and little is you tries to turn the article comments about EI's 321XLR into yet another pi8ong match between AA, DL and UA.

YOU brought DL into the conversation.

I accurately noted that the reason why the 321XLR works for EI and IB is because they have configured their 321NEOs for longhaul with 175+ seats with relatively small premium cabins. The total number of seats on their 321XLRs (or LRs for EI) are 2/3 of what a widebody holds with no premium economy as Ben notes.

I said that the A321XLR is a great plane but it doesn't work at US carrier labor rates and at the configurations that AA and UA are planning which is with premium cabins proportionate to their widebodies and total seats around 150.

DL is also taking delivery of 321NEOs but will not use them for TATL flights but rather on transcon flights because DL says that the 321XLR does not work on flights over 8 hours at US labor rates and the year round average rates that Europe gets.

The experience of B6 and the configuration choices of EI and IB validate what DL is saying.
B6 cannot make money with its 321s to Europe other than to a few cities - and the largest cities at that. It is even more doubtful that AA and UA can find cities that will sustain narrowbody yields for 4-6 months of the year.

And AA and DL both released schedule updates over the weekend. AA is adding 777Ws in several markets and extending the travel season in others - all with widebodies.
DL is replacing more and more 767-300ER routes including several BOS routes with 330NEOs which not only amounts to significant increase in capacity but also gives DL by far the highest percentage of business class suites of any TATL airline and dramatically increases DL's fuel efficiency.

AA and UA are free to try to make 321XLRs work on TATL routes. What they are doing has not only not been copied by the big 3 European flag carriers but also not DL.
The Euro flags, like DL, largely operate or have on order A350s including the 350Ks while AA and UA's largest aircraft is the 777-300ER, a far less fuel efficient aircraft.

If you want to highlight differences, Max, make sure that you note that DL's fleet looks more like the big Euro carriers while it is AA and UA that not only are doing something unique compared to large TATL carriers but are configuring their 321XLR aircraft in ways that even lower cost Euro carriers like EI and IB aren't doing.

You're insane. Take your meds.

11 paragraphs before 9am to me about Delta A350s and wide bodies coupled with a "YOU BROUGHT UP DELTA". You're truly insane with zero self awareness.

I don't say this lightly, go see a shrink.

Decent plane, but I would still opt for a DL 767 to Dublin. Overall a more premium option.

Curious to see whether there's enough demand to sustain these routes. Nashville is fun, so I could see some extra O/D traffic ex-DUB, but I'd guess IND is mostly connecting to Europe ex-IND and VFR ex-DUB.