How long will passengers sit in a small, tightly packed airplane? Soon, the answer from airlines will be: longer.
The new Airbus A321LR—a single-aisle, narrow-body jet—adds 800 miles of range. It’s poised to shake up trans-Atlantic flying, opening up nonstop flights between smaller cities and letting discount carriers drive prices lower. It comes as airlines are already stretching the distances they fly with planes originally designed with compact cabins such as the Boeing 737, 757 and Airbus A320.
Riding in tight quarters in a small plane for seven hours or more hasn’t sat too well with many travelers. Unlike wide-body jets, narrow-body planes are likelier to offer slim seats and small lavatories with sinks smaller than your dog’s water bowl.
Some flights have had to make unplanned fuel stops after flying into strong headwinds. Others fly into strong traveler disgust. A sampling of passenger comments about long-haul, narrow-body flights on FlyerTalk, a road warrior community board, includes comments like, “Unless it is a life or death situation, I will not fly 757 to Europe. I’d rather stay home,” and, “the lav situation alone is scary.”
American and United fly fewer narrow-body planes across the pond, substituting wide-body jets on many of those routes, according to data firm OAG Aviation.
Some low-cost startups using jets originally built for short trips have struggled, in part because of issues with smaller airplanes, including the grounding of Boeing 737 MAX jets. Iceland’s WOW and small Danish discounter Primera Air fit that category and have gone bust in the past year.
The percentage of trans-Atlantic flights on narrow-body planes dropped slightly over the past five years to 8% in 2019, according to Oliver Wyman PlaneStats.
But airlines keep trying. Delta increased the number of narrow-body trans-Atlantic trips 15% to 1,493 over this summer season from the same period last year, according to OAG. Others, including TAP Air Portugal and Aer Lingus, are up as well.
“It’s not just a fish-and-chips plane” that can get as far as London from North America, says François Caudron, Airbus senior vice president of marketing. “It allows you to go deeper into Europe—Paris, Hamburg, Eastern Europe.”
The A321LR will stretch the traditional five- or six-hour limit of single-aisle jets to seven hours or more. (The LR stands for long range.) That may radically change the heavily traveled and often high-fare trans-Atlantic market. Suddenly a direct flight from Raleigh-Durham to Lisbon becomes feasible.
JetBlue plans to launch flights to London in 2021 with it, with an eye on going to Amsterdam and deeper into Europe. Chief Executive Robin Hayes thinks his carrier can knock down business-class and coach ticket prices along the way. The model’s range of 4,000 nautical miles is nearly 800 miles beyond what the conventional A321 can do.
Amsterdam to New York takes eight hours flying into the wind. JetBlue acknowledges that’s a different experience, so the airline is studying service changes. The airline’s Mint business class will get an upgrade, and changes may take place in coach. The in-flight entertainment system, for example, may have a different mix of programming to adjust for European tastes.
“For longer flights, it [in-flight entertainment] is definitely more important,” says Mariya Stoyanova, JetBlue’s director of product development.
She thinks very long flights in a narrow-body plane can be advantageous—no big crowds at baggage claim like you’d get with a jumbo jet.
But for a five-hour flight, you just need one good meal. JetBlue offers a tapas-style meal in Mint on cross-country flights and free snacks plus for-purchase sandwiches, salads and snack boxes in coach. “With seven hours, you get into the range where you need a second service,” she says.
Seat size will remain the same—JetBlue already offers more legroom in coach than bigger airlines. In its A321s, coach seats are set in a row 32 inches deep, compared with 30 inches in American’s newest A321s, and 31 inches in the 757s American, Delta and United fly across the Atlantic.
A Delta spokesman says customer feedback led the airline to make improvements in its 757 cabins. Asked about replacing 757s with larger wide-body airplanes, an American spokeswoman says some markets are booming. “I think customers appreciate the all-aisle access [in business class] of the 767 internationally,” she says.
The 757s are aging, and Boeing has yet to come up with a replacement—something between its largest 737 and its smallest 787—that can compete with the A321LR. Work is under way for a completely new design, which Boeing has dubbed NMA, for new midmarket airplane. A launch decision for what it will likely call the 797 is expected next year.
Airbus says the A321LR will have the flexibility to handle both long-haul and short-haul flights. If airlines don’t need long range, they can remove one, two or all three of the extra fuel tanks and use that as cargo space. With all three tanks in, there will be room for passenger checked luggage but no cargo, Mr. Caudron says. With two tanks, a little cargo plus passenger bags.
The plane will be fortified so it can handle extra takeoff weight because of the extra fuel. Airbus also has increased the size of the plane’s water tank and its waste tank for long flights.
Airbus is even offering a business-class bench tailored for long flights on narrow-body jets, which have a difficult time squeezing in big lie-flat beds. The “settee” would be akin to the couch Air New Zealand offers in its economy section—a thinly padded bench three seats wide for sitting or lying down, if you are short and feet don’t extend into the aisle.
The settee is 40% to 50% lighter than a typical business-class seat and 30% cheaper for airlines to purchase. Airbus thinks it may appeal to discount carriers that could offer a premium product without giving up a lot of space. It will be angled so that it can be 6 feet long. But each seat will be set in a space only 34 inches wide.
Asked how a passenger taller than 6 feet might scrunch up and sleep on a narrow bench, Mr. Caudron had a simple answer:
“You may not be a customer for that seat.”
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