Qantas making history as its first A321XLR flies home to Australia

Having accepted delivery of its first A321XLR aircraft from the Airbus facility in Hamburg, Qantas is making history today by operating the two-class, extra-long range twinjet on the longest-ever XLR flight to be flown by a commercial airline.

Registered VH-OGA, and named Great Ocean Road, the Pratt & Whitney GTF-powered twinjet is the first of 28 A321XLRs destined for the Australian carrier. It is presently operating as flight QF6041 from Hamburg to Bangkok, a record-breaking distance of more than 9,600 kilometres (5,183 nautical miles) for an airline flying the type.

The A321XLR is then expected to continue on from Bangkok to Sydney, a journey of over 7,600 kilometres, and touch down at Sydney Airport on Wednesday morning shortly after 10am. Flightradar24 is tracking all the action.

“This week’s milestone represents the extraordinary dedication of teams right across Qantas and our partners at Airbus. Thank you to everyone involved who has helped bring this aircraft to life,” Qantas Domestic CEO Markus Svensson said in a statement published on LinkedIn.

Christoph Zammert, Head of Program A320 Family (Airbus), Markus Svensson, CEO Qantas Domestic, smile for the cameras during the handover ceremony

Airbus’ head of program A320 family, Christoph Zammert and Markus Svensson, CEO Qantas Domestic, celebrate the handover of the carrier’s first A321XLR. Image: Qantas

In typical airline service, the A321XLR offers the longest range of any single aisle aircraft, at up to 4,700 nautical miles. For Qantas, the delivery of its first A321XLR represents a pivotal step in the broader Qantas Group’s fleet renewal program, which will also see Qantas sister Jetstar take a dozen of the type.

The A321XLRs will initially be used to gradually replace some of Qantas’ aging Boeing 737s on domestic flights across Australia, and later are expected to be used to open new services on secondary routes to Asia.

From a passenger experience perspective, Qantas has taken a consistent approach to the A321XLR’s interior, fitting it from nose to tail with Recaro seats (20 in business, 177 in the main cabin) and eschewing embedded IFE in favor of a BYOD model, as supported by Viasat inflight Wi-Fi, seatback device holders, and ample in-seat power outlets. The chosen CMF (color, materials, finish) is not unlike that of Qantas’ in-service Airbus A220s.

Celebrating today’s history-making Hamburg-Bangkok-Sydney service, Airbus said the route reflects the long-range capability of the A321XLR. In taking delivery of its first A321XLR, Qantas becomes the Asia-Pacific launch operator of the type, noted the European airframer.

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Featured image credited to Qantas. First embedded image credited to Airbus. Second embedded image credited to Qantas.