(Bloomberg) -- Travelers on Iberia’s Airbus A321XLR maiden flight from Madrid to Boston will notice some subtle changes to the passenger experience on board the narrowbody jet, which is capable of serving long-distance routes that were previously the reserve of larger planes.
The Spanish carrier will distribute meals in one go rather than splitting up starters, mains and dessert, and drinks will be served separately from food. A water boiler at the back of the plane will fill thermos flasks to avoid back-and-forth journeys to the coffee machine, said Iberia spokespeople presenting the aircraft ahead of its flight.
The complicated choreography seeks to address a key challenge of the long-range Airbus SE model, namely that its narrow single aisle presents a potential bottleneck for passengers and flight attendants moving up and down the corridor during flight.
Airbus has positioned the plane as an efficient alternative to more fuel-guzzling and sometimes too-large widebody jets like its A330 or A350 models, which come with far wider cabins and provide more maneuverability down two parallel aisles.
Iberia is the launch airline for the A321XLR, which has a range of 4,700 nautical miles (8,704.4 kilometers), or about 11 hours of flight. Airbus has received more than 550 orders of the jet as airlines seek to marry the reach and capacity of a widebody with the economic benefits of a narrowbody plane.
The airline, part of the IAG SA group, will start flying the XLR daily to Boston from Thursday and launch a service from the Spanish capital to Washington in January. The airline has ordered eight in total of the model.
The plane, which fits 182 passengers, includes 14 seats in business class that can fold out into beds. Given the limited space, cabin crew will have no dedicated rest area. Before takeoff, Iberia will also play a video across all seat screens advising passengers not to use the four bathrooms while food is being served.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
