Qantas has just boosted its order for the most versatile new narrow body aircraft, and there’s some good news when it comes to the interiors for these planes…
In this post:
Qantas A321XLR order increased from 28 to 48 frames
In 2019, Qantas placed an order for 28 Airbus A321XLRs, which is Airbus’ new long range, narrow body aircraft (an evolution of previous versions of the A321). The airline has just started taking delivery of these, and the first of these aircraft is expected to be in service in the coming weeks.
Ahead of that, the airline has actually increased its order for these planes. Qantas has ordered an additional 20 A321XLRs, bringing the carrier’s total order book to 48 aircraft. It’s not surprising to see Qantas order more of these aircraft, given that the airline has a fleet of 75 previous generation Boeing 737-800s, which all eventually need replacing.
Separately, QantasLink is also refreshing its narrow body fleet with the Airbus A220-300, but that’s not part of the Qantas mainline fleet.
16 Qantas A321XLRs will get premium cabins with flat beds
One interesting quirk for Qantas is that up until now, the airline has only officially announced that it planned to introduce a standard domestic configuration for its A321XLRs. So while the plane is capable of flying long distances, Qantas’ intent for the first 28 planes is to just use them for domestic and short haul international flights.
Why would Qantas invest in these more expensive A321XLRs when it doesn’t need the range, compared to the A321LR or A321neo? Well, the answer seems to come down to cargo capacity on some of the longer routes within the country.
However, with Qantas having increased its A321XLR order, the airline has also announced something that many of us were expecting, and which had been hinted at in the past — 16 of the 20 newly ordered A321XLRs will feature a special long haul configuration.
The planes with this special configuration are expected to be delivered as of some point in 2028. These A321XLRs will feature lie flat business class seats, as well as seat back entertainment screens at all seats. Exact details about the product beyond that haven’t yet been announced.
The intent is for these planes to serve longer routes, including transcontinental flights to and from Perth (PER), as well as short and medium haul international routes. While we’ll see what happens, Qantas emphasizes that these planes could be used to launch flights to destinations across Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands that might not currently be viable.
Here’s how Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson describes this:
“Investing in new aircraft is one of the most significant ways that we can provide our customers with a better flying experience and these billion-dollar investments are possible because of our continued strong financial performance. These additional A321XLRs will accelerate the retirement of our 737 fleet and open up new opportunities for domestic and international travel, allowing us to reach destinations that aren’t possible with our current narrowbody fleet.”
“Not only will the A321XLRs help us serve the corporate market travelling between Perth and the east coast of Australia, they will also allow us to expand flying on existing routes into South East Asia and open up new possibilities like Perth-India and Adelaide-Singapore. The lie-flat Business seats, seat back screens and fast and free Wi-Fi will provide a consistent premium experience for our customers who fly domestically with Qantas and connect onto our long haul services.”
Bottom line
Qantas has just increased its Airbus A321XLR order by 20 aircraft, bringing the order total to 48. This isn’t too surprising, given that Qantas seems to be using the A321XLR to replace Boeing 737-800s.
What’s perhaps most interesting here is that as of 2028, 16 newly delivered A321XLRs are expected to feature a proper long haul product, with flat bed business class, personal televisions throughout the plane, etc.
What do you make of Qantas’ incremental A321XLR order?
SIN-ADL is not bad at all, but how about also restoring the SIN-CBR "Capital Express" service? Singapore Airlines flew SIN-CBR (then on to WLG) for about 18 months from 2016 to 2018 using a 777-200 on a 4X per week schedule. Then, until COVID, they ran a "triangle trip" (SIN-SYD-CBR-SIN) on a 777-300ER. The 321XLR is a much better fit for SIN-CBR service, and Qantas happens to have great lounges at both ends.
Might explain some of QF's operational reliability issues that their own map (in the article) seems to show Adelaide as Melbourne.
And all of a sudden Perth is becoming the new Sydney for Longhaul QF flights. So long Sydney airways
Great to see lie flat in biz, but having recently flown Etihad on a 321LR in economy for nearly 5 hours, economy on these machines long haul is no fun!
Big queues all flight down back for the only 2 toilets,unlike Qantas, EY had no seat back screens.
Hopefully Qantas will install a mid cabin toilet.
Flew a wide body next sector in Y, much better experience!
I do get that...
Great to see lie flat in biz, but having recently flown Etihad on a 321LR in economy for nearly 5 hours, economy on these machines long haul is no fun!
Big queues all flight down back for the only 2 toilets,unlike Qantas, EY had no seat back screens.
Hopefully Qantas will install a mid cabin toilet.
Flew a wide body next sector in Y, much better experience!
I do get that these aircraft will open up new non stop routes, but personally I will avoid them for anything over 4 Hours.
@Paul
You did NOT fly the A321LR. Absolutely not. You may have flown the older A321 or A320 or the ex Bamboo A321neo but most certainly not the new A321LR.
There are 13.3" 4k personal entertainment screens in economy on that plane. Ben has covered that here. You can even check the the Etihad website. And those planes are currently flying longer routes to Phuket etc.
https://onemileatatime.com/news/etihad-airbus-a321lr-first-business-class/
You either flew a different aircraft or...
@Paul
You did NOT fly the A321LR. Absolutely not. You may have flown the older A321 or A320 or the ex Bamboo A321neo but most certainly not the new A321LR.
There are 13.3" 4k personal entertainment screens in economy on that plane. Ben has covered that here. You can even check the the Etihad website. And those planes are currently flying longer routes to Phuket etc.
https://onemileatatime.com/news/etihad-airbus-a321lr-first-business-class/
You either flew a different aircraft or you're lying.
As one of the world’s safest airlines, Qantas is in great danger of becoming one of the most comfortable too …. Well done Qantas on both counts, we hope to make your acquaintance again before the end of the year.
It would be great if QF could use this to open routes that are too long for a 737, but there isn't the traffic to support an A330.
Routes that QF currently doesn't serve, which might become economic with a smaller long range jet, include:
- Sydney / Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur
- Perth to Bangkok
- Sydney / Melbourne to Guangzhou
- Brisbane to Hong Kong
- Adelaide to Singapore
- Sydney to Taipei
- Qantas should start working more closely with MH to KUL, instead of pretending they don't exist. They're in the same alliance, FFS.
- BKK could work from Perth, but they'd be up against Thai's 787s on the route. There's lots of money sloshing about in Perth, though, and plenty of pax willing to pay workable fares.
- Cathay has BNE-HKG all sewn up with an A350 twice a day.
- SQ likewise...
- Qantas should start working more closely with MH to KUL, instead of pretending they don't exist. They're in the same alliance, FFS.
- BKK could work from Perth, but they'd be up against Thai's 787s on the route. There's lots of money sloshing about in Perth, though, and plenty of pax willing to pay workable fares.
- Cathay has BNE-HKG all sewn up with an A350 twice a day.
- SQ likewise has Adelaide all sewn up with a 787-10 twice a day. Qantas has treated Adelaide and Brisbane like the dumb hick country cousins for so long that their arch competitors have become firmly established there.
- Taipei should be a juicy plum, and I'm not sure why Qantas and EVA aren't interested in throwing some metal at it. EVA does service Brisbane, but Melbourne and Sydney are left to China Airlines, who must be thanking their lucky stars about having the nonstops all to themselves.
This is good. Those 737s are dated af.
Their day to day operational reliability has become a real issue. They're way past their 'best by' date, for sure.
I’m confused about the cargo comment. My understanding is that the XLRs have lower cargo capacity, because of the need for more fuel tanks. Can you address that?
@ Tom -- It's a good question, and I have an explanation in this post:
https://onemileatatime.com/news/qantas-airbus-a321xlr/
See the section that starts with "some might wonder, well why not go for the A321LR then?"
Good to see these on domestic flights for PER. They're not as long as US transcons, but close to it.
In the southern winter the jetstream can push BNE-PER out to 5hr40 on some days, and SYD-PER out to five hours. For the fares they charge in biz, they should be offering a flat seat on every service.
I'd love to see Qantas boost its Pacific Island route network with this plane. Although these aren't really business destinations, they have the dual benefit of being strong VFR destinations due to the number of islanders living in Australia, and popular holiday destinations for Australian tourists.
There is no airline that dominant in the region
And the big news which I think was more interesting is the massive profit announced $2.39billion dollars
Be interesting if that profit can hold up once the change to payments regulation makes it unviable for most points-earning cards - which drives a significant chunk of Qantas' profit