Qantas’ first Airbus A321XLR touches down in Sydney on 2 July after its marathon delivery flight from Hamburg via Bangkok. Photo: SYDSQUAD Live/Screenshot.
The first of Qantas’ new single-aisle long range A321XLR passenger jets has arrived in Sydney after a marathon delivery flight from Hamburg.
The new aircraft – registered VH-OGA and named Great Ocean Road – is the first of 28 A321XLRs currently on order to replace some of the Qantas’ older Boeing 737-800 series jets which are approaching 25-years of age, as well as 12 more XLRs for its Jetstar subsidiary.
The first aircraft was built at Airbus’ Hamburg facility in Germany. After being handed over to the airline on 30 June, it flew as Qantas flight QFA6041 on a non-stop 8871 km leg from Hamburg to Bangkok, an extraordinary distance for a single-aisle passenger aircraft.
It then departed Bangkok late on 1 July and arrived at Sydney to a water cannon salute at 9:45 am on 2 July.
The XLR – short for Xtra Long-Range – is the latest iteration of Airbus’ A320 family of airliners which entered service in the 1980s. The series comprises the original A320, shorter fuselage variants including the A319 and A318 and the stretched A321.
After an extensive upgrade, including updated interiors and new generation high-bypass Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbo-fan (GTF) engines, the A320neo and A321neo (new engine option) series entered service about a decade ago.
A320 and A321neos are already in service with Jetstar, but the XLR has added additional auxiliary fuel tanks in the aircraft’s belly and a host of other changes to allow for longer-range missions of nearly 9000 km, bringing many destinations in Asia and the Pacific well into reach from Australia.
The XLR features 197 seats including 20 business class seats, as well as much larger overhead cabin baggage bins.
These new seats debuted on Qantas’ smaller A220s which recently replaced the older 717 and are primarily operated on services between Sydney and Hobart. As with the A220’s seats, the A321XLR does not have inflight entertainment screens on the seat backs, instead providing a Wi-Fi entertainment system for passengers to use on their own devices.
The economy-class seats offer the same 30 inch pitch as the 737, but are wider than the older jets. The headrest is adjustable six ways and each seat features USB A and USB C charging ports and a drop-down tablet holder.
Qantas has already conducted more than 45,000 hours of training on the new aircraft for more than 1000 pilots, cabin crew, ground crews and maintenance personnel.
Qantas Domestic CEO Markus Svensson said it had been exciting to be in Hamburg with his team to take delivery of the first A321XLR.
“We are proud to be the first A321XLR operator in Asia Pacific and its arrival will mark the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Qantas and a significant step forward in enhancing the experience we offer our customers,” he said.
The aircraft is scheduled to conduct a few proving flights over the next few weeks on the Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane “triangle” before being eased into regular passenger services overt the next few months.
