Iberia's first A321XLR will debut on Oct. 28: the countdown begins

The Airbus A321XLR will make its debut a few days earlier: originally scheduled for Nov. 14, the first commercial flight with passengers will take place on October 28 next, in the route Madrid-London Heathrow. 

Departure of flight IB0711 from Madrid is scheduled at 06:55, while arrival in London (LHR) is scheduled at 08:25 (local time). On the same day. A321XLR will also be used for flight IB589 from Madrid to Paris-Charles De Gaulle: In this case, Iberia's new gem will take off from the Spanish capital at 3:50 p.m. and land for the first time in Paris (CDG) at 6 p.m.

The A321XLR will be used, in rotation, on the Madrid-London (LHR) and Madrid-Paris (CDG) routes. until November 13, 2024; from the following day, as was already planned, it will instead begin operating on the Madrid-Boston, while from January 15, 2025 it will begin to be used in flights to and from Washington (IAD).

Two destinations, these, that - as my colleague Matteo Legnani rightly wrote. - leave somewhat disappointed: trivially because the cities of Boston and Washington are easily reached from Europe by the A321LR; therefore the XLR, for the time being, will not be put to the test, and with it not even its exceptional autonomy. 

If the A321LR stops at a range of 'only' 7400km, the XLR, on the other hand, can boast a maximum range of as much as 8700km: this is all possible is made possible by a large tank located in the lower part of the fuselage, exactly behind the landing gears located at wing level. 

Iberia's Airbus A321XLR-the first airline to use Airbus' new gem-will be outfitted in two classes, business and economy. They will be 14 the business class seats, with a 1-1 layout, and all will have direct aisle access; 168, on the other hand, will have seats in 'tourist' class, with a 3-3 configuration. All 182 passengers will have not only an entertainment system equipped with Bluetooth, but also wi-fi (which will be free for exchanging messages).

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