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Aer Lingus receives its first two A321XLRs

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Over the past few months we’ve spent a lot of time looking at the Airbus A321XLR and its not-quite-as-long-range sibling the A321LR. Both are transforming long haul flying and have been ordered in their hundreds.

Aer Lingus, which was originally due to be the first A321XLR operator, has now received its first two planes.

The first one, registered EI-XLR ‘St Lelia / Liadhain’, was flown to Dublin on Wednesday. It was followed by the second, EI-XLT ‘St Melanie / Mella’. later in the evening.

Aer Lingus A321XLR

Aer Lingus plans to use the A321XLR to open new routes to Nashville, Indianapolis and Minneapolis. These are due to start at some point during the summer timetable from late March.

In the meantime, the first destination to get the A321XLR will be Washington DC (Dulles), with the aircraft making its first commercial flight on 20th December.

In terms of what you can expect on board, the aircraft will feature upgraded versions of the existing Aer Lingus business class seats based on Northern Irish manufacturer Thompson Aero Seating’s Vantage product.

Upgrades include next-gen inflight entertainment systems with 4K screens and Bluetooth connectivity. I’ve also been told that the upgrade includes new tray tables, additional stowage, a new trim, materials and finish “to enhance the overall look and feel of the seating.” No photos have been released yet!

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Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub

Comments (33)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Mikeact says:
    20 Dec20 December 06:21

    What’s the minimum length of runway required for the XLRs ? Does this open up smaller regional airports over here…ultimately giving LHR and LGW a bit of a headache ?

    • Richie says:
      20 Dec20 December 08:10

      Bristol Airport have said they want to extend their runway for this type of aircraft.

      • Will says:
        20 Dec20 December 10:48

        EI already deploy the existing 321 fleet on select short-haul routes from DUB and SNN in between between TATL travel, so they are likely to appear at LHR at some point

    • JDB says:
      20 Dec20 December 10:18

      I don’t think LHR or even LGW will be affected by these aircraft. They should work very well where IAG has planned their use. Aer Lingus has an almost LCC cost base, serves a tiny home market but also a huge Irish diaspora spread all over the US and a strong inbound tourist market so it can make routes work better than many others. Iberia is planning to use the aircraft on premium routes that just don’t quite have enough demand. Both airlines have capacity at their home bases.

      For these aircraft to work from a UK regional airport might be tougher.

      • john says:
        20 Dec20 December 14:49

        They could work from a UK regional airport, but not being used by Aer Lingus to ferry people to Ireland obviously. Regional Airport -> US for example is perfectly doable. There is a market there which could be tapped. Jet Blue perhaps? Although they can already do this with the LR to their east coast base easily enough to many UK regions, Manchester, Glasgow, Edingburgh, Newcastle etc. But don’t. Maybe this is what Global Airlines should be looking at rather than refurbing 380’s to send them to the US..

  • danimal says:
    20 Dec20 December 07:38

    Is there an easy way to search JAL reward availability? It’s not on SeatSpy!

    • Alex G says:
      20 Dec20 December 07:56

      No easy way. Search on BA. I’ve only seen JAL to Frankfurt or Doha.

    • astra19 says:
      20 Dec20 December 08:12

      Availability tends to open up, at least for BA, very close to flight dates. They often appear in F about 10 days before departure. However, they often also only open one seat.

      • Vit says:
        21 Dec21 December 14:52

        24th Dec. HND – LHR. F x 5 seats up for grab, anyone? 🙂 (albeit on the old 777).

    • LittleNick says:
      20 Dec20 December 08:15

      You can use AA.com I think by route

  • Red says:
    20 Dec20 December 08:09

    Is the jl43 a day flight? I did BA08 around similar times and it was darkened cabin for 11hrs! BA controlled the windows and we only had daylight for 3hrs! It was awful as we took off at 10am and I’d had a good nights sleep so wasn’t tired. We flew over Alaska.

    • Alex G says:
      20 Dec20 December 10:41

      Standard tactic on BA flights, regardless of the time of day. Feed the self loading freight, then darken the windows and dim the lights so the FAs can do FA for the next 7 to 11 hours.

      BA cabin crew must give thanks on a daily basis for those windows on modern planes which dim under their control.

      PAX trying to adjust to local time at destination? Tough luck, suckers.

      • Nick says:
        20 Dec20 December 12:47

        What did the crew do when you asked?

        The BA service standard is very clearly written to allow passengers to control the window shades. If they’re locked out, mention it to the IFM. Obviously they might do nothing, but if caught out most will open it for self control at least up to the middle setting.

      • john says:
        20 Dec20 December 14:52

        Maybe you need to bring your own LED lighting now on BA flights! 🙃

    • John says:
      20 Dec20 December 20:33

      I’ve experienced enforced darkness on daytime flights on several different airlines. Last week it was an EVA daytime flight from BKK to LHR, cabin crew enforced all the windows to be closed the whole flight.

  • John G says:
    20 Dec20 December 08:15

    Which date does the daily A350 start? Still seeing 77Ws every other day for December …

  • Mark Richards says:
    20 Dec20 December 09:52

    I was hoping to send my son to Tokyo in April but Economy is currently over £2k which is madness!! Does anyone have any clever ways around this? Thanks

    • Rhys says:
      20 Dec20 December 09:52

      Iberia now fly to Tokyo. Should be a good value redemption.

    • dahokolomoki says:
      20 Dec20 December 10:05

      April sounds like peak cherry blossom season…. coupled with maybe a Chinese holiday around the same time… Will be tricky for cheap fares.

      Chinese airlines probably your best bet. Skyscanner show more/cheaper fares than Google Flights for these airlines.

    • Alex G says:
      20 Dec20 December 10:45

      I’m seeing plenty of indirect Y flights in April for £1k or less. What dates are you looking at?

  • Mohsin says:
    20 Dec20 December 10:40

    I booked JL44 back in July this year to fly in June 2025 in first class hoping by then the A350 will be in service, looks like my prayers have been answered! 123k avios plus around £450 in tax/fees. Punchy but worth it.

    • Alex G says:
      20 Dec20 December 11:35

      Nice! I’m jealous. TPG have a video on YouTube. Looks amazing.

      Even JAL business class is better then BA First.

  • Jimmy says:
    20 Dec20 December 11:29

    How does one find a JAL redemption anyway? Doesn’t seem to be any method of searching- either that or availability is near-zero.

    • Mohsin says:
      20 Dec20 December 11:40

      BAEC will show JAL availability albeit can be hard to find, but definitely there. I booked my flight through that.

    • Gerry says:
      20 Dec20 December 11:42

      I often see JL availability via AA when BA doesn’t show anything… so it seems they release more seats to some partners.

      • Occasional Ranter says:
        20 Dec20 December 11:47

        Also, AA will show availability for all OW airlines a month at a time, whereas BA requires day by day interrogation for non-BA flights I think ?

        • LittleNick says:
          20 Dec20 December 13:19

          Yep, AA you can get month view but BA requires day by day. If it’s available on AA should be on BA but BA IT sometimes doesn’t pull it through. Also check QR/AY for pricing

        • occasionalranter says:
          20 Dec20 December 17:01

          Just to muddy things a little further, I’ve encountered quite a lot of “phantom” availability for JL F (and CX F ) on AA’s site. You know it’s phantom if it throws an error about 2 clicks into the booking process.

  • BlairWaldorfSalad says:
    20 Dec20 December 14:14

    Fantastic timing for EI to take delivery, jist as the dastardly Green Party get consigned to a political footnote in Ireland. A great opportunity now exists to move DUB oversight to central government and away from the bonkers local council that has been stifling much-needed expansion of the US gates area.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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