Boeing's reign wanes at Icelandair: photos of its first A321LR, debut in two months
The 'revolution in Arctic skies' had been announced a year ago, when Icelandic airline Icelandair announced the purchase of [...]
The 'revolution in the Arctic skies' had been announced a year ago, when Icelandic airline Icelandair had announced the purchase of 13Airbus A321XLRs., with purchase rights for 12 more copies.
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It was, for the carrier, the first order placed with the European manufacturer, after a lifetime of absolute loyalty to Boeing, from which it has over the years purchased 727s, 737-400s and MAXs, 767-300s and, indeed, 757s. And for, the American manufacturer, of theYet another 'blow' suffered by the market, where Airbus now leads the dance, especially at the short- and medium-range jet level.
Now, that revolution is about to take place. If, in fact, XLRs will not arrive until 2029, Icelandair posted on Linkedin the first photos of its (first of four) A321LR acquired under a lease last January.
The jet is still sitting at the Airbus factory in Hamburg waiting for its engines and seats to be installed, but it is now close to delivery, which will take place during November. The Icelandic company also announced that all 4 -LRs will be in its fleet by summer 2025.
The -LRs and -XLRs will gradually replace the 15 Boeing 757s. which Icelandair still has in service and uses mainly on transatlantic routes: their average age is now a good 25 and a half years and keeping them in service is increasingly uneconomical, both in terms of fuel consumption and maintenance.
Icelandair's -LRs will fly in two classes, with 22 seats in Business Class and 165 in Economy (The twelve 757-200s in service today have 20 or 22 seats in Business and 161 or 164 in Economy, while the two 757-300s have 22 in Business and 203 in Economy).
The fact that Icelandair, a (former) loyal Boeing customer, chose the A321XLR to replace its 757 Is yet another sign of the failure of the strategy operated over the past decade by Boeing, which chose to 'extreme' the concept of the Boeing 737 to the point of turning it into a 200-seat aircraft (the MAX 10), rather than developing the heir to the 757, what should be called the 797, but without maintaining the market share that the 757 had granted it (not least because, in addition to all the problems the MAX program ran into, the -10 has not even been certified yet).
