LATAM Airlines and Air Lease Corporation (ALC) signed a lease agreement for five Airbus A321XLR jets, a long-range variant of the aircraft capable of flying up to 4,700 nm (8,700 km) nonstop. The new planes will be delivered between the fourth quarter of 2025 and 2026 and are part of ALC’s backlog.
“We are pleased to announce this lease placement for five new long-range Airbus A321-200 XLRs with our airline customer based in Chile, LATAM Airlines, and be the first to introduce the XLR to the airline,” said Steven Udvar-Házy, Executive Chairman of Air Lease Corporation. LATAM had not made a statement until the publication of this article.
In July, during the Farnborough Air Show, LATAM and Airbus signed a new agreement for the acquisition of 17 A321neos, including XLR versions, however, without specifying quantities.
The Latin American airline had also signed another leasing agreement with ALC in June, to take delivery of three A321neos starting in the second half of 2023.
Despite being the largest operator of the A320 family in Latin America, with 231 aircraft, only 14 of them are new generation, in this case the A320neo.
The A321XLR is in a certification campaign with two prototypes being used in test flights, one with CFM Leap-1 engines and the other with the Pratt & Whtiney PW1100G turbofan.
Airbus expects to put the new single-aisle model into service in 2024.
