Qantas Takes Delivery of Their First Airbus A321XLR
- Joe Breitfeller
- Jun 30
- 2 min read
Airbus has today announced that Qantas has taken delivery of their first Airbus A321XLR, and will become the Asia-Pacific launch customer for the type. The aircraft in now flying from Airbus’ Hamburg facility to Sydney, with just one crew rest stop in Bangkok.
On Monday (June 30, 2025), Airbus announced that Qantas has taken delivery of their first A321XLR form the Airbus assembly line in Finkenwerder, Hamburg, and will become the Asia-Pacific launch customer for the type. Reflecting the extra-long range capability of the aircraft, it will now head to Sydney with only one required crew rest stop in Bangkok. Powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines, Qantas’ new A321XLR features a two class configuration with 20 Business Class and 177 Economy Class seats. Qantas will initially operate the aircraft on domestic services across Australia, and potentially open future new services on secondary routes to Asia.
In total, the Qantas Group has ordered 40 A321XLRs, with 28 allocated to Qantas, and 12 to their low-cost subsidiary Jetstar. This represents part of Qantas’ overall outstanding Airbus orders for 128 single-aisle aircraft and 24 Airbus A350-1000 widebody jets.
The next evolutionary step in the A320neo Family, the A321XLR responds to market demand for more range and payload. The aircraft delivers an unprecedented range of 4,700 nautical miles, approximately 15 percent more than the A321LR. Additionally, the aircraft delivers a 30 percent reduction in fuel burn per seat compared to previous generation competitor aircraft, as well as lower NOx emissions and a smaller noise footprint.
To date, Airbus has secured over 500 orders for the type. Like all Airbus aircraft, the A321XLR can currently operate on 50 percent SAF, and Airbus plans on having all of their aircraft 100 percent SAF capable by 2030.
Source: Airbus
