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Qantas' first A321XLR, VH-OGA, touches down in Sydney after its ferry flight from Hamburg. (Image: Qantas)
Right as rain for Qantas’ first next-gen A321XLR
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Qantas in July took delivery of its first Airbus A321XLR, the aircraft set to replace the 737 as the backbone of its domestic fleet. Named ‘Great Ocean Road’ and registered VH-OGA, the narrowbody arrived after a more than 20-hour delivery flight from the planemaker’s Hamburg factory, via a stopover in Bangkok. The A321XLR (standing for extra-long range, naturally) is five metres longer than the 737-800 and has a maximum range of up to 8,700 kilometres, more than 3,000 kilometres greater than the Boeing it replaces.
Interestingly, the delivery flight’s first leg, from Hamburg to Bangkok, covered 9,600 kilometres – making it the longest flight ever conducted by a commercial airline using this aircraft type. The XLR achieves its extended range through additional fuel tanks and efficiency improvements, which Qantas expects will enable it to serve new domestic and short international routes that were previously not viable using older aircraft models.
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