1st A321XLR enters final assembly

Airbus has announced that its first A321XLR has entered final assembly at the plant at Hamburg-Finkenwerder. The aircraft, MSN 11000 is planned to have its first flight next year. For the certification process, it will be joined by MSNs 11058 and 11080. Airbus hopes to have the newest version of the A321 certified by 2023 with deliveries to customers starting in the same year.

Although Hamburg is the pilot-site for producing the A321XLR, Airbus has announced it will also built the aircraft at the other A320neo-family Final Assembly Lines, which are at Toulouse-Blagnac in France, Mobile (AL) in the US and Tianjin in China.

The A321XLR offers customers an extended range of 8,700 km, which is 1,296 km more than the A321LR. It can seat up to 244 passengers in a single class. So far, there are more than 450 XLRs ordered by 22 customers.

Photo by Airbus.