Aer Lingus became the 8th operator of Airbus A321LR after it took delivery of a first plane. An opportunity to highlight the configurations chosen by different airlines.
Eight airlines are currently operating Airbus A321LR — Airbus A321neo’s long-haul version — Aer Lingus being the latest. The airline reveived a first A321LR from Aircraft Lease Corp. (ALC). The carrier chose a cabin configuration for a total of 184 passengers split in two classes (16 in Business and 168 in Economy). The densest configuration is the one chosen by Arkia with 220 passengers in a single class. Air Arabia comes next with 215 seats, still in a single class. The less dense cabin of Airbus A321LR is TAP Portugal’s with only 171 seats (16 in Business, 48 in Premium Economy and 107 in Economy). So far, TAP Portugal is the only airline that has chosen a tri-class configuration. Aer Lingus, Air Transat and Azores Airlines have chosen a two-class configuration for their A321LR with a total of 199 and 190 seats, respectively. These different configurations confirm Airbus’ marketing speech about the aircraft: the operators can choose within a global enveloppe of 206 passengers and a flying range of 7,400 km, taking into account their network and new lines’ opening projects.