Qantas has started commercial flights with its Airbus A321XLRs.
Two A321XLRs made their first flights on 25 September.
The aircraft, ‘Great Ocean Road’ (VH-OGA) and ‘Outback Way’ (VH-OGB), operated their inaugural services between Sydney and Melbourne and Sydney and Perth.
Qantas is the first airline in the Asia Pacific region to fly the new aircraft type, and the fourth globally. Iberia was first, followed by Aer Lingus and Wizz Air.
Qantas expects its third A321XLR in November, with the fleet to grow to seven by June 2026.
In August, Qantas announced an order for an additional 20 A321XLR aircraft, including lie-flat Business seats on 16 aircraft to serve longer routes, including transcontinental services to and from Perth, and short and medium haul international routes.
This takes Qantas’ current A321XLR order to 48 aircraft.
Qantas A321XLR features
The A321XLR features a wider and longer cabin than previous generation narrowbody aircraft, with wider seats, higher ceilings, larger windows, fast and free Wi-Fi and space for around 60 per cent more bags than Qantas’ Boeing 737s.
Qantas says its A321XLR will use less fuel per seat than the Qantas 737 it replaces.
Qantas A321XLR cabin layout and the toilet problem
The Qantas A321XLR has 200 seats in a two-class layout:
- 20 Business Class seats in a 2-2 layout
- 180 Economy seats in 3-3 layout
Here is the seat map from Qantas today.
One toilet for 20 Business and two for 180 Economy passengers – a world-beating ratio of 90 passengers per toilet.
However, when Qantas received its first A321XLR in July, the airline published a fact sheet stating there would be 197 seats – 20 Business Class and 177 Economy.
No mention of toilets.
Maybe those extra three seats have replaced a toilet in Economy?
Airbus says the A321XLR can fly non-stop for 11 hours. The aircraft is single-aisle. There will be trollies in the cabin for quite a while. It’s almost 30 rows from the front of economy to the two toilets.
Looks like there will be a premium charge for seats at the back of the cabin. Maybe seats near the front of the aircraft will get a discount.
Qantas, of course, spin what they see as the positive bits.
Vanessa Hudson, Qantas Group CEO:
“Seeing our A321XLRs take to the skies with customers for the first time is a proud moment for everyone involved and testament to the incredible efforts of the teams across Qantas and Airbus.
“Investing in next generation aircraft is the most significant way we can elevate the travel experience for our customers and our people. We have already seen a significant improvement in customer satisfaction on our new A220s and Jetstar’s new aircraft.
“The extended flight range enables us to operate these aircraft on both domestic and short haul international routes, including destinations across South East Asia that are not viable with our current narrowbody fleet.
“Preparing for these commercial flights has taken an enormous effort, with nearly 350 training flights and more than 40,000 hours of training completed, as well as thousands of pieces of equipment deployed across our network.
“We look forward to introducing our A321XLRs on other domestic and international routes as more aircraft join our fleet.”
