Air Canada’s first A321XLR brings 14 lie-flat suites to thin transatlantic routes like Montreal to Toulouse. The narrowbody long-haul era is officially here.
For the better part of 60 years a transatlantic flight meant a widebody with two aisles and a galley the size of a studio apartment, this is a market shift. Air Canada is not alone. JetBlue, Aer Lingus, and Iberia have all leaned on long range narrowbodies to open thin transatlantic markets, and United has a large order of XLRs of its own, American and Delta too. Those are all in addition to Iceland Air which has a unique geographical position that makes it a shorter distance than the others. The economics are simply too good for airlines to ignore, and that is exactly what makes me cautious. Carriers have held off using single aisle planes until product changes in two areas occurred, 1) range capability, and 2) premium onboard product.
Fourteen lie-flat seats on a 182-seat jet is a very light premium ratio compared to others flying across the Atlantic even on the same equipment type. Leaked seat maps from United show 20-28 lie-flats, American is to be fitted with 20, but even JetBlue (with either Neo or LR but not XLR) offer 16-24 lie-flat seats.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on Live and Let's Fly.
