The Airbus A321XLR will be an important variant in Air Canada’s evolving fleet. The airline has ordered 30 of them, with the first frame expected to be delivered in early 2026. It is, of course, much delayed. It was originally due to arrive in 2024.

The Star Alliance member’s XLRs will have 182 seats: 14 fully flat business seats (1-1) and 168 seats in economy (3-3). Iberia’s XLRs have the same capacity, Aer Lingus’ examples have 184 seats, and—while not a fair comparison—all-economy Wizz Air’s frames have 239 seats. Once Air Canada’s Boeing 737 MAX 8s go to Rouge, the XLR will be the parent’s only long-haul narrowbody equipment.

What Air Canada’s CCO Says About The XLR

In a recent interview with The Airline Observer, Air Canada’s Chief Commercial Officer, Mark Galardo, commented on the XLR. While he stated that the range is as expected, he has found difficulties. Although the things he mentioned were predictable, he stated,

« If you’re in a smaller airport where you have an obstacle at the end of the runway, or you have a short runway, or you have heat concerns, it starts to cut down the payload. That’s something I don’t think we factored in when we made the purchase decision. »

He singled out Madrid as an example. Not coincidentally, Iberia just announced nine-hour A321XLR flights from Madrid to Toronto next summer. « If you’re leaving Madrid at 12 noon in the summer, you’re talking 37 to 38 degrees Celsius. It’s punitive. » Guess what: Iberia will leave Spain at 12 noon. Clearly, Galardo suggests that Iberia will perform poorly on the equipment, against Air Canada’s A330-300s/787-9s.

Galardo stated that potential destinations for the XLR could include more cities in Spain. Bilbao, Ibiza, and Seville were mentioned (United began Newark-Bilbao service in 2025). Seemingly for the same heat reasons, he said that such cities may not work for the XLR, at least during the summer. Yet on June 17, Air Canada will take off from Montreal to Palma de Mallorca, with a four-weekly XLR operation. Given Galardo’s comments, will this route have a payload restriction?

Did he mean that the problem is from Toronto to such Southern European cities? For now, at least, all five of its transatlantic XLR routes will be from Montreal. A theoretical Toronto-Bilbao route would cover less distance than Montreal-Palma. The brand-new link from Quebec to the Balearic Islands would be about the same distance as Toronto-Seville, although Toronto-Ibiza would be longer. Curiously, Air Transat will start Montreal-Dakar next year, which will cover more distance than Toronto to Bilbao/Seville. And while Air Transat’s A321LRs have less range in themselves, the leisure carrier packs in 17 more seats than Air Canada’s XLRs.

Air Canada’s 5 Known XLR Routes To Europe

Given the comments about Spain, Galardo said, « For mainstream Europe or secondary European markets with long runways, the XLR performs just fine. » (Given the popularity of Spain, it is unknown what ‘mainstream Europe’ means.) For now, Air Canada will use it from Montreal to Porto, along with Dublin, Edinburgh, Palma, and Toulouse. The XLR will replace widebody equipment on some of these links, while it’ll replace the MAX 8 to the Scottish capital.

Those five routes will cover an average of just 2,876 nautical miles (5,326 km). Earlier this year, Iberia—the XLR’s launch customer—stated that its 182-seat XLRs can realistically fly up to 3,920 nautical miles (7,960 km). It uses its frames on much longer legs than Air Canada plans to, at least for now.

Aircraft such as the XLR have roughly half the trip cost of a widebody, while requiring far fewer passengers to break even at a particular percentage. While they might have a higher seat-mile cost, they should help to reduce risk and achieve stronger yields and margins. The XLR enables Air Canada to open brand-new thin markets, while right-sizing capacity with demand fully or at less busy times of the year. This may enable higher frequencies and therefore greater competitiveness and market share, or—if the same frequency—higher loads and unit revenue, and stronger overall performance.

Where Else Could Air Canada Fly The XLR?

Air Canada’s frames will, in time, be flown from various Canadian hubs and airports. When its MAX 8s go to Rouge, the XLR will replace the Boeing single-aisle equipment between Halifax and Heathrow and presumably also between Montreal and Toronto and Keflavik. Might the XLR replace larger widebodies on Ottawa-Heathrow or Montreal-Copenhagen? Both seem to be good candidates.

Could Air Canada use the XLR from Montreal/Toronto to Berlin, Budapest, Hamburg, Kraków, Manchester, Nice, Pisa (for Florence/Tuscany), or Prague? All are within 3,920 nautical miles, and all have notably more existing local traffic than the carrier’s upcoming Palma de Mallorca service. However, the trend nowadays is for Southern Europe, and only some of the suggestions are located there. It provides a good reminder of Galardo’s comments about using XLR to Spain and other hot places during the summer.