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By Bjorn Fehrm

September 12, 2024, © Leeham News: We examine the high-volume short-to-medium-range market and check whether a route previously reserved for the Airbus A330neo can be flown with a fleet of A321XLRs. At equal per-passenger operational costs, doubling the frequency is advantageous and can drive market growth, revenue, and margin.

After comparing the aircraft and their seating, we now use our Airliner Performance and Cost Model (APCM) to fly them on a Southeast Asia route and compare the operating costs.

Summary:

• The A321XLR is competitive on fuel costs but loses out on Cash costs as several cost factors don't scale linearly with passenger capacity.
• The cost disadvantage doesn't render the A321XLR a non-replacement for an A330-900; it just needs a positive revenue uptick from the frequency increase to be an interesting alternative.