A few weeks ago, Iberia officially became the new global launch customer for the Airbus A321XLR, due to Aer Lingus’ ongoing pay dispute with pilots. The oneworld carrier has now put flights with this jet on sale. This is a pretty major development, since these will represent the first passenger flights with this new long haul, narrow body aircraft.
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Iberia will be first airline to fly Airbus A321XLR
In June 2019, Airbus formally launched the Airbus A321XLR, which will be the world’s longest range narrow body jet. This aircraft is based on the Airbus A321 family of aircraft, but features even more incremental range improvements over the A321neo and A321LR (which already have more range than the A321ceo).
Airlines have ordered hundreds of these jets, as they look for long range, low capacity jets, that can open up all kinds of new markets. The first A321XLR is expected to be delivered to airlines in Q3 2024.
The launch customer for the plane is International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, etc. The company ordered 14 of these jets, with eight intended for Iberia and six intended for Aer Lingus.
Initially the plan was for Aer Lingus to be the launch customer for the plane, but that’s no longer the case. Iberia is now the global launch customer for the A321XLR, and the jet should enter service in the coming months (and Iberia has faith in this timeline, as flights are now on sale).
Iberia puts Airbus A321XLR flights on sale
Iberia has just opened bookings for its first long haul Airbus A321XLR routes. I would imagine there might first be some regional crew familiarization flights, before the aircraft makes its long haul debut:
- As of November 14, 2024, Iberia will fly the A321XLR between Madrid (MAD) and Boston (BOS)
- As of January 15, 2025, Iberia will fly the A321XLR between Madrid (MAD) and Washington (IAD)
Both of these are existing destinations for Iberia. However, Washington is currently only served seasonally, so this new A321XLR route means that the service will also be operated in winter. When you go to Iberia’s website, be sure that you see the A321XLR listed, as not all frequencies feature the jet. Also, while I hope the current timeline sticks, there’s always a chance for an additional delay.
If you want to redeem miles and points on these flights, it seems like Iberia has loaded one business class award seat for each newly loaded frequency (note that for the Boston route, there were already some frequencies planned, so you’ll find more availability to Washington). This could be a fun opportunity to be among the first people in the world to fly the A321XLR!
You can book this efficiently with American AAdvantage miles or Iberia Plus Avios, depending on the overall itinerary you’re hoping for.
What to expect onboard Iberia’s Airbus A321XLR
What should passengers expect onboard Iberia’s Airbus A321XLRs? Well, that’s a great question, as it’s not what I was expecting, based on the seat map. What we do know for sure is that Iberia’s A321XLRs will be in a two cabin configuration, and won’t have premium economy.
In a way that’s surprising, since it seems most airlines acquiring the A321XLRs do plan to install this cabin, which is often considered to be the most profitable cabin in terms of space allocation. You’d think there would be demand for premium economy, especially with the need to generate premium revenue to make narrow body economics work on long haul flights.
So, what will business class and economy be like? A recent press release from Iberia indicated that the planes will have 182 seats, making these among the denser long haul configured A321s out there.
According to that press release, the jet is expected to feature 14 business class seats, each featuring direct aisle access. Interestingly when you do a flight search on Iberia’s website, you’ll sometimes see a little pop-up about the new A321XLR, which suggests that the below is Iberia’s new business class seat (thanks to @ryanlyma for flagging this).
That wouldn’t be much of a surprise, given that the Thompson Aero VantageSOLO seat is the same seat you’ll find in the new JetBlue Mint. These are herringbones seats that are fully flat and have direct aisle access. Seats will have 18″ 4K TV screens.
Meanwhile in economy, there will be 168 economy seats, featuring 4″ of recline and leather headrests. Even in economy there will be bluetooth audio, as well as USB-A and USB-C charging ports. Furthermore, there will also be personal electronic device holders, and there will be Wi-Fi connectivity throughout the jet.
But here’s the curveball. When I pulled up the seat map for an Iberia A321XLR flight, I was expecting to see a 1-1 configuration. Instead I’m seeing a staggered 2-2 and 1-1 configuration, with a total of 14 seats.
This is identical to Aer Lingus’ A321LR business class. So I wonder what’s going on here. Will the first couple of A321XLRs have a different configuration than the rest, since they were intended for Aer Lingus? And is Aer Lingus not planning on introducing direct aisle access on its A321XLRs? Or did Iberia accidentally upload the wrong seat map, based on Aer Lingus’ A321LRs? I’m working on finding out, and I’ll report back…
Why Aer Lingus is no longer Airbus A321XLR launch customer
As mentioned above, Aer Lingus was supposed to be the first airline to start flying the Airbus A321XLR, so what happened? Aer Lingus has been having a pay dispute with its pilots, as management and the union haven’t been able to agree on new pay rates.
Aer Lingus pilots are looking for salary increases of more than 20%, to reflect inflation over the years, plus salaries at competing airlines. Meanwhile management hasn’t been willing to budge beyond an 8.5% raise.
Management has threatened that if pilots don’t agree to a deal, the airline will defer Airbus A321XLR deliveries for the airline (and in turn, reduce flying opportunities for pilots). The two parties had until April 29, 2024, to come to an agreement, and were unable to do so.
IAG has long taken a ruthless approach to negotiations with staff, so I’m not surprised to see that the company followed through with its threat. As a spokesperson explains:
“Unfortunately, Aer Lingus was not able to give IAG the cost structure assurances necessary for this investment and so the inaugural A321 XLR – originally planned for Aer Lingus – will be allocated elsewhere in the group.”
Now, it’s worth emphasizing that for now, only the first twoA321XLR deliveries have been allocated to Iberia, so getting the third A321XLR is still potentially in the cards, if an agreement can be reached. Furthermore, it’s just the timeline that’s being delayed here, and it’s not necessarily that the number of jets going to Aer Lingus is changing (though management threatens that could happen if a favorable deal isn’t reached).
Keep in mind that Aer Lingus already has eight Airbus A321LRs in its fleet, which is the slightly shorter range version of the same jet. So in many ways, Aer Lingus already has a jet capable of operating similar services (between Ireland and the Northeast of the United States and Canada).
For Aer Lingus, the greatest benefit of the A321XLR would just be absolute growth, rather than necessarily opening up new markets. Meanwhile Iberia doesn’t have a comparable jet yet. 
Bottom line
Iberia will be the global launch customer for the Airbus A321XLR, and plans to start flying the jet by November 2024. The airline has revealed that the first two destinations for the aircraft will be Boston (BOS) and Washington (IAD).
Aer Lingus was supposed to be the launch customer for the A321XLR, though a pay dispute with pilots has caused the airline to defer these deliveries.
What do you make of Iberia’s Airbus A321XLR plans?
Will the first commercial flight be Nov 14 form MAD to BOS, or will the shorter flights also be commercial?
Such a disappointment! They should've gone the 16 business suites way, and add a few lines of extra space econony given they won't add premium economy. I really expected something more sophisticated and innovative for a launch customer. A missed oportunity, hopefully other airlines will follow AA's foosteps and come up with better cabin designs. TAP and SAs have better cabins on their A321LRs, this such a let down for IAG.
I hope that seatmap is a placeholder. It would be terrible to not have direct aisle access for all J seats.
Which short routes will this be scheduled on for crew familiarisation, starting when?
according to my friend who works for IB, IB doesn't know exactly just yet when they will receive the jet so short-haul routes for crew familiarization has not been confirmed
My friend works for IB and he said they are aware where the plane will fly to but not sure exactly to what destination.
the a321 service to IAD seems only during the winter when IAD had no service from Iberia as it was a seasonal route. reverts back to a330 in April going forward. thats a win for me.
MEA was actually due to be the launch customer, not Aer Lingus. MEA recently deferred their deliveries due to trouble in the region.
I searched for BOS-MAD on March 7 and the seat map shows the 1-1 configuration--not sure if they've updated for all flights or if it will really be different for some, but there will definitely be at least some 1-1 planes.
*subscribes for all of the “OMG, a narrow body aircraft is an awful experience & Delta got their A339NEOS for 12 million dollars, so they don’t need these planes” comments.*
My hot take is that it's a middling airline in terms of both hard and soft product, and now they're putting their "meh" product on a more cramped plane. Sure, it's supposed to be year round...at some point...which is sort of a win, but the bottom line is it's still just so-so service but now in a smaller space. I'll be passing on it and taking UA IAD-BCN instead as that's my typical routing. If...
My hot take is that it's a middling airline in terms of both hard and soft product, and now they're putting their "meh" product on a more cramped plane. Sure, it's supposed to be year round...at some point...which is sort of a win, but the bottom line is it's still just so-so service but now in a smaller space. I'll be passing on it and taking UA IAD-BCN instead as that's my typical routing. If I really need to get to MAD I can still take UA or take Renfe from BCN. Yeah, I'd literally rather spend 3-1/2 hours on AVE than on a 321.
Unless you are connecting between international flights without entering Schengen, T4S is a huge waste of time. If I had to fly between BCN and the USA, I would much rather go via ZRH (or possibly even CDG) and backtrack than subject myself to having to battle through trains, queues etc and stressing over missing my connection in case of a delay. OTOH, I am sure they'll be able to bag a few passengers between...
Unless you are connecting between international flights without entering Schengen, T4S is a huge waste of time. If I had to fly between BCN and the USA, I would much rather go via ZRH (or possibly even CDG) and backtrack than subject myself to having to battle through trains, queues etc and stressing over missing my connection in case of a delay. OTOH, I am sure they'll be able to bag a few passengers between the US and North Africa or DSS paying high prices in Y and ridiculous fares in J.
IAD only looks active until the end of Winter 24; there's a two-week gap of no service right at the beginning of April. :(
I hate this so much.
MASSIVE devaluation for the biggest sweet spot in US-EU travel.
Premium economy? Nixed.
Business reward availability? Down to one from two, based on what you're saying, Ben.
Economy? More dense and cramped than ever.
This is AWFUL! What a HORRIBLE way to cross the Atlantic.
I fly 3-4 times a year between MAD and BOS, my entire rewards strategy is now upended.
Worst news in years!
Do you ever pay cash on Iberia, other IAG airlines, or airlines with which IAG has a JV with? If not, they probably don't care that you're no longer able to redeem miles with them...
Yeah, I pay cash when I redeem my $1000 voucher ;-).
But seriously, I've spent gobs of miles with them, which they're also being reimbursed for at the end of the day.
It's just such a step backwards in every way, this whole aircraft and every cabin in it looks AWFUL.
Why not just nerf the whole route, while they're at it? What's the point in delivering a horrendous experience?
Do you need a tissue?
May seem trivial, but it's literally the one route I fly multiple times every single year, and over the past 8 years, I've built my entire rewards strategy around it...now I'm screwed!
You were screwed when you used the word “nerf” to describe a seasonal downgrade of a flight. I’d take this time to look in the mirror and make some life changes.
Lol okay Buddy, you're so edgy!
Not sure why you take pleasure in something like this, I wouldn't revel if your top route started being served by a crappy plane...and it's not a "seasonal downgrade", by the way. In the case of MAD-BOS, this is year-round.
How long is MAD-BOS anyway? It barely seems long enough for a good night's sleep, and that's only in the right circumstances (boarding after a full and tiring day, quick dinner service, no screaming babies etc)- it's not quite like flying to SCL or something.
I'm with you Robin. I don't like narrow-bodies for flights over seven hours either.