Air Canada has been nicely modernizing its narrow body fleet, taking delivery of Airbus A220s and Boeing 737 MAXs with modern cabins. However, the airline continues to fly Airbus A320s and A321s, which feature more outdated cabins. Fortunately that’s finally changing…
In this post:
Details of Air Canada’s updated Airbus A320 & A321 aircraft
Air Canada’s first Airbus narrow body jet with a new interior is now flying. Specifically, the 21-year-old Airbus A321 with the registration code C-GITU has just entered service, featuring brand new cabins.
So, what can you expect from Air Canada’s new Airbus narrow body interiors?
- Updated seats in both business class and economy class, similar to what you’ll find on other narrow body Air Canada jets
- Larger overhead bins, featuring the latest Airbus Airspace XL design
- Seat back televisions at every seat, including bluetooth audio, so that you can use your own headphones while enjoying the entertainment
- Power outlets at all seats, including USB-A and USB-C outlets in economy, plus AC power outlets in business class
- New high-resolution exterior cameras, as the seat back entertainment now gives you the option of watching either the tail or belly camera in real-time
- New LED mood lighting, with the option for different ambiances depending on the time of day and phase of flight
- Fast and reliable Wi-Fi, with upgraded satellite-based connectivity; for the time being this is being offered for free and is sponsored by Bell, but Air Canada hasn’t yet committed to offering free Wi-Fi on these planes permanently
Air Canada has long lead the industry in North America when it comes to seat back entertainment throughout its narrow body fleet, and this is a nice evolution of that. It’s awesome to see the introduction of bluetooth audio, and it’s especially awesome to see tail cameras, as that’s not something you ordinarily find on Airbus narrow body jets. How cool!
When will Air Canada reconfigure all its Airbus jets?
Air Canada intends to install these new interiors on 22 Airbus A320-family aircraft, including 14 A321s and eight A320s. As you can tell, the first plane with the new interiors is now in service. Air Canada will progressively be retrofitting these planes, and you can expect the program to be completed by the end of 2025.
That’s not exactly a very fast retrofit schedule, but I imagine that Air Canada is trying to minimize costs and the number of aircraft out of service at any given point.
Note that these interiors will only be coming to Air Canada mainline Airbus narrow body aircraft, and not planes belonging to low cost subsidiary Air Canada Rouge.
Air Canada also notes how the new interiors are lighter, and reduce the overall weight of the A321 by around 240 kilograms. Once all 22 planes are reconfigured, annual fuel consumption for the fleet is expected to be reduced by 2.4 million liters per year, and GHG emissions are expected to be reduced by 6,256 tCO2, equivalent to the electricity used by 4,185 Canadian homes.
Bottom line
Air Canada is finally getting around to updating the interiors of its Airbus narrow body jets, and the first A321 with the new interiors is now in service. You can expect the entire fleet of 22 A320s and A321s to be updated by the end of 2025.
The new interiors look awesome, especially when it comes to tech. These planes are getting high speed Wi-Fi, bluetooth audio, more charging options, and a tail camera, which us avgeeks will no doubt be excited about.
What do you make of Air Canada’s updated Airbus cabins?
Is there a way to tell which routes already have the retrofitted planes?
AC have 26 321XLRs in order, a newer tranche of A321CEOs, and an all A320 family fleet at Rouge, so keeping the older A320 family aircraft around now, instead of retiring all but the A321s like originally planned, has a great business case. I wouldn't be surprised to see them integrate more 737s, potentially -10s, into the fleet, as the US carriers seem to be doing.
WOW pretty spiffy there... Anyone remember when individual entertainment screens in every seat back weren't yet "a thing" and we all watched the featured movie on the "Big Screen" with those funky plastic tubing earphones... There was one overhead big screen in each cabin and at the time it was considered a "State of the Art Experience"
Good job Air Canada.
Yup. And I also remember being blown away the first time I saw an individual screen at every seat on Singapore airlines.
This may not be the best passenger experience if these seats are the same design and pitch as those in the AC 737 MAX economy cabin. The old seats in the Airbus fleet have better legroom and width.
They will be larger than those on B737 since the A320/321 has a larger cabin. Not sure of the pitch, but it's fair to say that it will not increase for sure.
The A320 family fuselage is marginally wider, but Air Canada's seats on the A320 and 737 are of identical width. I doubt that will change
Glad to see the retrofits will include wifi. Scheduled on a MAX 8 next week, and they still didn’t bother to add that amenity.
The cameras are a cool addition. Not so sure about the seats though. Usually weight reduction means thinner slimline seats that are less comfortable.
So drab, it's high time for some colour in the cabins. And I don't mean that drab green.
I don't think I've seen any cameras on a narrowbody before, let alone a tail camera. If they wanted to, they could've also enabled the cameras on the 777s.
What an impressive investment. Here in Western Europe we don't have a single carrier fitting outshort haul aircraft at this level. Still at least that doesn't stop you getting a 5 star rating!
I really don't get why EU carriers don't confifure their planes with better business class seats like this. I guess there is more low cost competition?
I agree, Imagine getting on a 4+ hour flight from London to Cairo in those crappy seats. Admittedly the F&B is pretty decent in European business but those slimline seats and poor legroom are at best economy plus.
I really don't get why North American carriers don't let elites into lounges on domestic itineraries or serve good food, unlike EU carriers?
Well, no space for starters…
Air Canada business class passengers, domestic or international, and even without any elite status, get access to Maple Leaf Lounges. Its only the US carriers that don't allow people into lounges on domestic itineraries
Wow, new interiors on a 21 year old plane! I'm impressed, Given the age of these aircraft I assume they are scheduling the refits alongside mandated D-checks? Great they went to the trouble to also upgrade the overhead bins and adding all that new tech. I remember when AC announced PTVs at every seat fleet-wide, this was unheard of at the time, look at how far we have come in the past 15 years or so.