Qantas (QF/QFA) has formally taken supply of its first Airbus A321XLR, marking a serious milestone within the airline’s narrowbody fleet renewal. The plane, registered VH-OGA, is the primary of 28 A321XLRs on agency order, with choices on extra. These plane will be a part of the Qantas mainline fleet to supply improved vary, gasoline effectivity, and passenger consolation on home and short-haul worldwide routes.
To succeed in its new residence in Sydney, VH-OGA accomplished a multi-leg ferry flight from the Airbus facility in Hamburg (XFW), with a stopover in Bangkok (BKK) earlier than persevering with to Sydney (SYD) Australia. It was no unusual supply.
The complete supply route – Hamburg to Bangkok to Sydney – allowed the plane to showcase its long-range credentials. Over the course of the journey, VH-OGA lined an important circle distance of 10,164 miles (16,357 km). Nonetheless, the precise flight path was even longer, clocking in at 10,995 miles (17,695 km) in whole monitor distance attributable to routing and airspace constraints.
These flights symbolize the longest journeys undertaken by an A321XLR operated by an airline, underscoring the plane’s functionality to attach metropolis pairs far past the attain of a typical narrowbody.
What this implies for Qantas
The A321XLR will enable Qantas to switch older Boeing 737-800s whereas opening up new route prospects, particularly throughout the Tasman and into Southeast Asia. The plane incorporates a two-class format, with extra seats than the airline’s present narrowbodies, and extra vary that would see it flying routes like Cairns-Tokyo or Perth-Singapore nonstop.
This supply additionally continues the Qantas Group’s fleet modernization efforts, which embody A220s for QantasLink alongside the XLRs for Qantas mainline.
Cowl picture: Maximilian Kramer, JetPhotos
The submit One lengthy narrowbody journey – Qantas takes supply of its first A321XLR appeared first on Flightradar24 Weblog.
