American Airlines’ first Airbus A321XLR entered service late last week with a flight from New York-JFK to Los Angeles.
The long-range jet departed New York around 11 a.m. Thursday, carrying more than 150 passengers, and arrived in Los Angeles that afternoon, airline officials said.
American is currently the only U.S.-based airline operating the type.
The carrier plans to schedule the A321XLR on additional routes as more of the aircraft are delivered over the coming months. The jet will launch service between New York-JFK and Edinburgh, Scotland, on March 8, 2026, then take over existing routes between New York-JFK and San Francisco in May and between Boston and Los Angeles in July.
Americans’ A321XLRs come with Flagship Suite, premium economy, and main cabin seats.
In an interview with AirlineGeeks last week, American’s senior vice president of network planning, Brian Znotins, said he envisions growing the carrier’s premium transcontinental and transatlantic networks in parallel as more A321XLRs are delivered.
