Airbus is expecting to deliver its first Pratt & Whitney-powered A321XLR shortly, to budget carrier Wizz Air, which has 47 on order.
Speaking during a briefing on 9 January, commercial aircraft chief Christian Scherer referred to the initial delivery to Iberia in late October and the subsequent handovers to Aer Lingus in December.
Both carriers’ XLRs are fitted with CFM International Leap-1A engines.
Scherer says the first PW1100G-powered XLR delivery for Wizz Air is “imminent”. The carrier initially selected the Pratt & Whitney engine for its A321neo fleet in 2016.
Wizz intends to open a London Gatwick-Jeddah route with the XLR from March this year.
Pratt & Whitney parent RTX says 13 customers have chosen the powerplant for a total of 217 A321XLRs. The US FAA certified the engine for the twinjet on 12 December.
The XLR was launched “on speculation”, Scherer points out, without orders as a precondition for board approval.
Some 500 XLRs have been ordered worldwide since the long-range variant was unveiled at the Paris air show in 2019.
The broader demand for the A321neo is reflected in the airframer’s full-year figures, with the variant accounting for almost 500 of the 615 net orders – and 60% of the deliveries – for the A320neo family last year.
Airbus delivered 361 A321neos in 2024, a rise of 14%. Scherer says the airframer’s investment in its A320neo final assembly lines to ensure all of them are A321neo-capable is a direct response to the popularity of the aircraft.
He says the “predominance” of the A321neo is “embedded” in the manufacturer’s ramp-up plans through which it intends to build 75 A320neo-family jets monthly by 2027.
