Industry Air Canada orders six Airbus A321XLR aircraft

Air Canada will expand its international fleet with the purchase of six Airbus A321XLR aircraft. The deal was signed between the airline and the manufacturer this week. With this order, Air Canada now has a commitment to 26 A321XLR, as 20 aircraft will join the airline´s flee through lessors.

The A321XLR is the Extra-long-range version of the A321LR and is used by many airlines for transatlantic flights between North America and destinations throughout Europe. The 26 XLRs will give Air Canada a new operational option to serve undiscovered markets.

Michael Rousseau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada, confirmed: “Air Canada is committed to further strengthen its market-leading position, especially through investments in new technology. The acquisition of the state-of-the-art Airbus A321XLR is an important element of this strategy and will drive our core priorities of elevating the customer experience, advancing our environmental goals, network expansion and increasing our overall cost efficiency. This order also shows that Air Canada is emerging strongly from the pandemic and is ideally positioned to grow, compete and thrive in a reshaped global aviation industry.”

“The exceptional versatility and performance of the A321XLR will enable Air Canada to further develop its network expansion in a sustainable way with increased efficiencies and reduced CO2 emissions,” added Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Airbus International. “We thank Air Canada for its confidence in us and are delighted by the step-up in our longstanding relationship.”

Air Canada has been operating with aircraft of the A320 Family for decades. In the long-range segment, the carrier has been using the A330-300 and for regional routes the A220. The A321XLR incorporates all these characteristics and Air Canada will benefit form its previous learnings with Airbus aircraft.

Airbus´ A320neo Family has, as of by the end of February 2022, accumulated orders for 7,900 new aircraft from around 120 customers around the world. The A321XLR has earned orders for 515 aircraft with 25 customers.