By Bjorn Fehrm

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Introduction

July 04, 2019, © Leeham News: Will the Airbus A321XLR change long-haul flying between city pairs within its range? The capacity is around 50% of an A330-900 so an operator could fly twice daily to move the passenger stream if the cost was the same.

Such a frequency advantage requires the seat-mile economics of the XLR to be the same as the A330-900. We use our airliner operating cost model to find out if it is.

Summary:

• Configured with a three class long-range cabin the A321XLR is half as large as the A330-900 equipped to the same cabin rules.
• Last weeks article showed the A321XLR was very competitive cost wise against the smaller A330-800.
• How much better is the larger A330-900? Can an operator depart twice daily with the XLR for the same cost as one rotation with the A330-900?