In the coming months, Qatar Airways is expected to take delivery of its first Airbus A321LR, which will be the carrier’s first narrow body aircraft featuring latest generation interiors, including flat beds. We’ve known that the airline would introduce a “mini-Qsuite” type product, and we now have details of which seating platform the airline has selected.
Qatar Airways will take delivery of 10 Airbus A321LRs
Qatar Airways currently has a total of 50 factory fresh Airbus A321-family aircraft on order. This includes 10 A321LRs, and 40 A321neos — both of those are latest generation aircraft, with the A321LR featuring additional range.
The expectation is that the first A321LR will be delivered in the coming weeks, before the end of 2026. The 10 A321LRs should join the fleet pretty quickly, and will then be followed by the A321neos.
The A321LR has a maximum range of 4,000 nautical miles, so it can be used for many destinations in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Below is a map showing the rough range from Doha (though in reality it won’t be quite as far, accounting for winds, fuel reserves, etc.).
Now, for those paying close attention, I should acknowledge that Qatar Airways briefly flew six leased, all-economy A321neos, but those were just intended as a temporary solution, and are now flying for Sun PhuQuoc Airways, which is running an interesting operation.
Qatar Airways’ A321neo-family aircraft order goes back a long time, and involved a lot of drama. The order was first announced in 2011, then the airline reconfirmed and upsized it in 2017. However, then former Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker got into a fight with Airbus over A350 production quality, and refused to take delivery of any Airbus planes.
That turned into a massive court battle, which was eventually resolved. But in the process, Qatar Airways lost all of its Airbus delivery slots, which is why these planes are coming way later than initially expected.
Qatar Airways A321LRs get STELIA Aerospace OPERA seats
Qatar Airways has been promising all along that it would introduce some sort of a next generation flat bed business class product on its Airbus A321LRs. As you’d expect, business class seats on narrow bodies sometimes differ from those on wide bodies, due to differing cabin constraints.
So we now know which business class product Qatar Airways has selected for the A321LR. Executive Traveller quotes Qatar Airways CEO Hamad Ali Al-Khater as saying that the new business class product will be based on the STELIA Aerospace OPERA platform.
The expectation is that these planes will boast 16 business class seats, in a 1-1 configuration. This product offers reverse herringbone seats, and Qatar Airways plans to have doors at each seat as well, of course with its customized finishes.
The launch customer for the STELIA Aerospace OPERA platform was Air France on its A350s. However, that’s the wide body version of the seat, which is modified from the narrow body version.
When it comes to the narrow body version of the STELIA Aerospace OPERA platform, ITA Airways was the launch customer, on its A321neos.
This is also the product that Etihad is installing on its A321LRs. ITA Airways and Etihad don’t have doors in business class, but Qatar Airways does plan to offer it. Etihad also markets the first row of the cabin as first class (and that has doors), but I wouldn’t expect Qatar Airways to do something similar.
This is about as good as narrow body business class seats get, as it’s generally preferred to the herringbone seats you’ll find on other carriers, like JetBlue A321LRs, American A321XLRs, etc.
Bottom line
In the coming weeks, Qatar Airways is expected to take delivery of its first of 10 Airbus A321LRs. This will be the first custom designed next generation narrow body that the airline takes delivery of. We knew the airline would offer flat bed seats on these planes, and now we have the details of that.
The airline has gone with the STELIA Aerospace OPERA platform, the same product you’ll find on similar planes of Etihad and ITA Airways. However, unlike those airlines, Qatar Airways will have doors in business class.
What do you make of Qatar Airways’ upcoming A321LRs, and the planned interiors?
Credits to ITA, Etihad and now Qatar Airways for opting for these reverse herringbone seats.
I hate herringbone seats far too many airlines have on their A321(X)LRs, that I'd much rather prefer the 2-2 Collins Diamond seats that Korean Air and Starlux and likes have on their A321neos.