Qantas on Wednesday took delivery of the first of its new Airbus planes which will begin to replace ageing 737s in its domestic fleet.
Torrential rains buffeting Sydney many have diminished the fanfare but the Airbus 321XLR landed in Sydney Airport at 9.45am after departing Bangkok the evening before.
Soggy touch down: The new Qantas Airbus XLR 321 arrives in rainy Sydney.Credit: Qantas
The arrival of the first 321XLR marks a key moment in the long-awaited refresh of Qantas’ domestic fleet.
The extra-long range narrow-body plane departed the Airbus factory in Hamburg on Monday and flew direct to Bangkok, showing off the range that Qantas will exploit as more of the 321XLRs are brought online.
Qantas’ plans for a major media event were cancelled as torrential rains and winds forced the closure of two runways at Sydney Airport. More than a 100 flights in and out of Sydney and Newcastle have been affected by the deluge since Tuesday.
Wider, more spacious: Airbus A321XLR’s business class interior. tra-a321-201124 Business class
Adding to the gloom, the storied airline was also hit by a cyberattack which may have affected the data of up to six million customers. The incident was disclosed to the public on Wednesday morning.
On the 321XLR, Airbus says the plane “offers the widest cabin of any narrowbody aircraft globally” including with space for 60 per cent more bags.
This is done by widening the overhead compartments to accommodate carry-on luggage placed vertically, instead of horizontally.
The 321XLR features wider economy class seats, more economy and business class seats, and larger windows than the Boeing 737.
The economy seat, for example, has a 17.6 inch (44.7 centimetres) seat width, wider than the 737’s 17 inches (43.2 cms).
The cabin also has new ambient LED lighting and higher ceilings.
The Airbus XLR321 is a major part of Qantas’ fleet refresh which will eventually replace the airline’s ageing fleet of Boeing 737s used domestically. Crucially for Qantas, the plane is more efficient than existing planes in its fleet.
The Airbus’s extra-long range gives Qantas the option of flying the narrow body aircraft on longer international routes to destinations such as Melbourne-Hong Kong or Sydney to Bangkok.
The allows for added flexibility between domestic and international travel. The flexibility in flying smaller planes further also lets airlines discover new routes without gambling with large amounts of seat capacity.
More to come
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