{"id":3825,"date":"2019-02-21T12:19:03","date_gmt":"2019-02-21T18:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planesintheair.com\/?p=3825"},"modified":"2019-02-21T12:19:09","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T18:19:09","slug":"airbus-pencils-in-orders-for-new-a321xlr-jet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/?p=3825","title":{"rendered":"Airbus Pencils in Orders for New A321XLR Jet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PARIS (Reuters) – Airbus has begun lining up tentative orders for a longer-range version of its A321 jetliner, seeking to exploit signs of hesitation at arch-rival Boeing over whether to develop a new model in a hotly contested niche of the airplane market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European firm is in detailed talks with airlines over the price and timing of the longer-range design – known as A321XLR – and has pencilled in some orders subject to a formal launch, expected this year, industry sources said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airbus is looking for 200-300 draft orders before committing to build the A321XLR, in a move that would limit the space available for a mid-market alternative that Boeing hopes to launch in a gap between medium-haul and long-haul jets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Every A321XLR that Airbus sells, means one less potential sale for the NMA (Boeing’s proposed New Mid-sized Airplane),” an industry source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Airbus spokesman said the planemaker is “always talking to customers” and declined further comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The middle of the jet market is at the centre of one of the most widely watched airplane design battles for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boeing is aiming its potential new 220 to 260-seat NMA at a niche previously served by two models: its own 757, a long-range single-aisle jet, and its 767, a larger twin-aisle model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boeing dominates the upper end of that spectrum but has come under pressure from Airbus at the lower end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month it postponed a decision on whether to launch the NMA to 2020 from 2019, though it said it could still decide whether to offer the plane on a preliminary basis this year. It maintained its goal of seeing any new jet enter service in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facing a potential new competitor, Airbus plans a pincer move, using derivatives of two existing models: the A321neo and its souped-up sister versions – the A321LR and the proposed A321XLR – at the lower end and an upgraded A330 at the top end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike the smaller A321neo, the upgraded A330neo has been selling poorly but received a boost last week when Emirates ordered 40 of the planes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The A321XLR would attempt to make it harder for Boeing to launch its new plane by increasing pressure at the lower end of the roughly 200-270-seat mid-market, valued at hundreds of billions of dollars over 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would have a higher maximum take-off weight of 101 tonnes and 400-500 nautical miles more range than the A321LR, Airbus’ longest-range single-aisle. It would not carry extra passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The A321LR can carry 206 people for 4,000 miles or up to 240 people on shorter trips. Boeing’s proposed new jet is expected to fly 4,000-5,000 miles, but Boeing says it will do so with the greater comfort of a twin-aisle jet and at a lower cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airbus is expected to try to create momentum for the A321XLR by offering airlines with existing orders for the A321neo or A321LR versions a chance to upgrade to the A321XLR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. sources have dismissed the A321XLR, saying another model in the A321 family would dilute the second-hand market, making it harder to finance orders of the new longer range version for which the market remains relatively niche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; editing by Richard Lough)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Airbus has begun lining up tentative orders for a longer-range version of its A321 jetliner, seeking to exploit signs of hesitation at arch-rival Boeing over whether to develop a new model in a hotly contested niche of the airplane market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[798,797,89,799,2203,1397,868,1103],"tags":[376,269,590,238,3505,739,47,502,3506,41,445,207,2420,589,3504,2419,1567,3507,2023,276,718,412,995,100,3075,1288,1187],"class_list":["post-3825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airbus-news","category-airline-news","category-aviation-news","category-boeing-news","category-finance-news","category-stock-news","category-transportation-news","category-travel-news","tag-376","tag-269","tag-590","tag-a321","tag-a321xlr","tag-a330","tag-airbus","tag-airplane","tag-alternative","tag-boeing","tag-emirates","tag-france","tag-haul","tag-jet","tag-jetliner","tag-long","tag-market","tag-medium","tag-mid","tag-neo","tag-new","tag-news","tag-order","tag-paris","tag-range","tag-reuters","tag-xlr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3829,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3825\/revisions\/3829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}