Over a dozen airlines have ordered the A321XLR.
Air Canada and United have both expressed interest in using the A321XLR to connect North America to Africa and to far-away destinations across Europe, such as Scandinavia, France, and Italy.
“We use the 757 to fly to smaller markets like Tenerife, Spain, and Reykjavik,” United’s SVP of global network planning and alliances, Patrick Quayle, told Business Insider in August. “The 757 is getting a bit uneconomic, but we want to continue flying to these cities, and the A321XLR is longer-ranged and has much better fuel burn and maintenance costs.”
Beyond these expected long-haul routes, American suggested in March that its A321XLRs could connect smaller markets like Raleigh, North Carolina, nonstop to London.
A former executive of lost-cost carrier IndiGo, Willy Boulter, said in 2021 that the XLR could fill the gaps in flying between Indian cities and Europe and Asia, pointing to options such as Beijing, Seoul, and Amsterdam.