TAP’s Airbus A321LR reached a milestone on Monday by flying for 10 hours and 7 minutes nonstop from Mozambique to Cape Verde.
According to the Portuguese carrier, it was the longest flight performed by an A321LR, which in theory also means the record for a single-aisle twin-engine jet.
The CS-TXA registration aircraft took off from Maputo, capital of Mozambique at 8:59 AM (UTC) and landed at 7:15 PM at Praia airport, city of the archipelago of Cape Verde, due to the deviation from the original route, which was foreseen arrival in Luanda, Angola.
“It’s true! We have a new record, with our longest flight ever in a A321 LR. Our CS-TXA connected Maputo Flag of Mozambique to the city of Praia Flag of Cape Verde on a flight lasting 10 hours and 7 minutes,” commented TAP on its social networks.
According to the airline, the feat received recognition from Airbus: “We congratulate TAP for expanding the aircraft operations to it’s full potential,” said the planemaker.
The Flight Radar 24 website shows the TP 9302 flight route, which still needed to bypass South Africa right after takeoff, further increasing its route. TAP stated that the A321LR would have covered about 4,500 nm (8,300 km), which means 500 nm more than its official autonomy, of 4,000 nm (7,400 km).
TAP’s flight showed the great commercial potential of the A321neo, a unique aircraft on the market due to the compromise between offering a high seating capacity (up to 240 seats) with unbeatable autonomy.
As of 2023, Airbus intends to put the A321XLR into service, capable of going further, with a total range of 4,700 nm.
