American mulls new international routes, more lie-flat domestic seats with new ‘XLR’ jet

12.11.2024 - 14:57 / thepointsguy.com / Brian Znotins

Make way for the XLR.

This week, Spanish flag carrier Iberia will become the first airline in the world to launch long-haul service on the Airbus A321XLR, the newest aircraft variant to hit the market. A single-aisle jet capable of flying passengers between the U.S. and Europe, the aircraft promises to open up dozens of new routes that might not otherwise support bigger, wide-body planes.

Iberia's XLR is configured for exactly these types of transatlantic flights, and features the type of lie-flat seats you'd expect on board a twin-aisle jet.

Indeed, when Iberia's first XLR touches down at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) on Thursday, it'll usher in a new era for aviation — one the Madrid-based carrier says is owed to the jet's fuel efficiency and impressive range.

Those factors should allow airlines more latitude to gamble on flying less traditional routes. They also have carriers around the world anxiously awaiting the aircraft's arrival — including in the United States.

"We're just really, really eager to get that airplane," said Brian Znotins, senior vice president of network and schedule planning at American Airlines. "We can't get it soon enough."

American, which has orders for 50 A321XLRs, now expects its first should hit its fleet at some point in 2025; the carrier hasn't yet announced a more specific timeline, amid production delays at Airbus.

The airline's plans for its initial deliveries are fairly straightforward: The jet will take over premium transcontinental routes currently served by American's upscale A321T as part of a phasing out of the latter aircraft's popular four-cabin layout. (The XLR won't offer Flagship First, as the current-generation A321T does, but it will sport a higher total number of premium accommodations in the form of the American's new Flagship Business suites).

But that premium-heavy configuration is also a big reason American, like its global competitors, sees the XLR as a way to unlock not-flown-before routes.

By the summer of 2026, American plans to start adding new overseas routes uniquely feasible with the XLR's range of 4,700 nautical miles, and lower cost-to-operate by a larger Boeing 777 or 787 Dreamliner.

It's too early to say definitively what routes American might add — but the carrier is already mulling its options, Znotins said, speaking to TPG exclusively from the airline's Fort Worth headquarters in late October.

"We are looking at new, secondary Spain, Portugal, U.K., anything in range — France, Germany, Scandinavia, all these smaller destinations that we think a wide-body just isn't well suited for," Znotins said.

Other possible uses for the jet include routes deep into South America from American's Miami International Airport (MIA) hub,