American Airlines has received its first delivery of the Airbus A321XLR on Friday, and has immediately placed them in storage, remaining in Europe. The airline’s A321XLRs have seen numerous delays over the past few years, and it looks like it’ll be another several months before we see them in the air.
According to a Bloomberg report, the recent delays are linked to a supply chain issue that has resulted in a shortage of seats. American stated that the aircraft “will remain in Europe until ongoing seat supply chain challenges are resolved.”
Indeed, aviation watchdog JonNYC shared earlier this week that the current XLRs still do not have any seats inside.
American’s A321XLRs will feature the Collins Aerospace Aurora seats for its Flagship Suites, the Recaro R5 recliners for premium economy, and the Collins Meridian seats for economy class. It’s unclear if any seat type or specific manufacturer is facing the supply chain issues.
I’ll also add that these seats will also be required to undergo certification once they’re delivered to the airline. The Collins Aurora seats, specifically, will require additional testing with guidance from the FAA due to the seat’s unique angle of greater than 45 degrees relative to the aircraft.
All in all, it’ll still be some time until we see these in the air.
I talked yesterday in this post about American adding premium economy service between New York and Los Angeles. This all but confirms the phase-out of the current Airbus A321T (transcon) aircraft currently operating the route, which will be flown with the A321XLRs whenever they’re delivered. For now, the route is expected to be slowly phased in with Boeing 777-200ERs.
American has a notorious shortage of long-haul aircraft these days, which has really limited their international network, and relies heavily on their Oneworld codeshares. I have to wonder what kind of implications these XLR delays will have moving forward.
All photos via American Airlines.
