Six and a half years ago, American Airlines promised to shake up international travel when it became the first U.S. airline to order Airbus’ brand-new, “extra long range” A321XLR jet — a single-aisle plane capable of crisscrossing the Atlantic Ocean.

Smaller and cheaper to operate than a big Boeing 777 or 787 Dreamliner, the airline saw the new plane as a way to launch service to new off-the-beaten-path destinations overseas — and offer a true premium experience on a domestic-sized plane.

Then customers had to wait through a pandemic, and many months of production delays.

But American’s posh new plane — lie-flat suites and all — is finally here.

American debuts the Airbus A321XLR

In one week, the Fort Worth-based carrier will become the first U.S. airline to fly the long-range Airbus when it deploys the XLR on its most premium domestic route between New York and Los Angeles.

Ahead of the jet’s first flight though, American showed off the new plane at an exclusive preview event at its Terminal 8 hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York.

And there was good reason for the pomp and circumstance.

This plane offers American’s latest-generation onboard experience: Most notably, the aircraft offers a true global business-class cabin, complete with its brand-new Flagship Suites.

Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter

Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts

By signing up, you will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.

There’s also a true premium economy section. And, the aircraft sports the all-new cabin design and color scheme that American is planning to eventually make standard on its planes — including far more prominent American Airlines branding, brown leather headrests and lighter-blue seats in the back.

American’s new XLR seats a mere 155 passengers — down from the 190 seats found on its standard-configuration A321 jets.

Flagship Suites

Up-front in the business-class cabin, you’ll find 20 of the carrier’s new enclosed Flagship Suites, complete with sliding privacy doors (which passengers should be able to close … soon, once the airline gains certification for that feature).

If this concept sounds familiar, this is the same spiffy Flagship product that America debuted just over six months ago on its newest Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners — a suite that instantly ranked among the best in the U.S. airline industry.

There’s one pod on each side of the aisle, and each is equipped with Bluetooth-capable entertainment screens, detachable touchscreen remotes and wireless charging pads.

Premium economy

Behind the business-class cabin is premium economy, which offers 20 recliners with winged headrests, cocktail trays and wireless charging pockets.

These seats should offer a fairly comfortable ride for travelers looking to catch some shut-eye, thanks to the foot and calf rests.

Premium economy seats are arranged in a 2-2 configuration.

Main cabin

In the main cabin, the light-blue seat coverings are easily the biggest shift in the color scheme American flyers have seen in years.

In a departure from American’s domestic fleet, there are seatback screens at every seat — and each is set up to allow passengers to connect their Bluetooth headphones.

Where will American fly its new A321XLR?

American has two big plans for this new plane.

Replacing the Airbus A321T

Up first: premium transcontinental flying.

The airline plans to use the XLR to replace its older, premium-heavy transcontinental A321T aircraft the carrier is phasing out.

That means you’ll see the XLR on some of American’s top coast-to-coast routes.

The route from JFK to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is up first, on Dec. 18.

But expect to see the XLR on a handful of additional routes currently served by the “T,” including:

• JFK to San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
• JFK to John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, California
• Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to LAX

Worth noting: Unlike American’s popular (but aging) A321T, the new XLR jet does not sport a Flagship First cabin — that cabin is being phased out from all of American’s aircraft that have it.

But with the new aircraft, the carrier gains a premium economy cabin for its top transcontinental routes, something the A321T did not have.

New international flying

Far more exciting, though, are the airline’s plans for international flying with the new jet, which sports an impressive range of 4,700 nautical miles.

That range, combined with a smaller passenger count than American’s biggest long-haul planes, should see the airline make bets on less touristy destinations in Europe and beyond.

“The real sexy part of deploying the 321[XLR] is transatlantic,” top network planner Brian Znotins said Thursday. “That’s really what we bought the airplane for.”

American has already announced it will deploy the jet on a new route from JFK to Edinburgh.

And with a total of 50 of these planes on order, it’s eyeing additional cities on other continents for the coming years.

“By having an airplane that’s properly sized for demand in smaller markets, you’ll see us adding destinations in secondary France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the U.K.,” Znotins said. “Furthermore, as we take more airplanes, we’ll be deploying them to secondary markets in Brazil out of hubs like Miami and [Dallas Fort Worth].”

Translation? Stay tuned for exciting new routes in the future.

Flagship Suites arrive on more planes, flights

For those keeping track, this is the second aircraft type in American’s fleet to sport its new Flagship Suite product.

You’ll find it on its Dreamliner “787-9P” configuration, which American is deploying on a growing number of international routes from Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas — and, soon, New York.

Meanwhile, the carrier is getting set to retrofit its largest plane — the Boeing 777-300ER — with the suites and the all-new cabin look found on its far smaller XLRs.

Side note

One important note about the Flagship product on this new aircraft: The XLR does not sport the extra-spacious front-row Flagship Suite Preferred you’ll find on its far larger 787-9P Dreamliners that launched this past summer.

To experience that, you’d have to fly with the airline on one of its Europe or South Pacific routes flown by its newest Dreamliners.

Bottom line

The long-awaited arrival of American’s new XLRs is welcome news for customers eager to experience its new Flagship Suite product — and for an airline that’s hoping new premium products will help it close a financial gap with top rivals Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.

Related reading: