Iberia has just completed the world’s first passenger flight with the Airbus A321XLR, touching down at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) this morning. The A321XLR has become one of the most hotly-anticipated aircraft in recent years, and this maiden short-haul voyage from the Spanish flag carrier’s hub at Madrid Barajas Airport (MAD) is a key milestone, with long-haul operations looming on the horizon.

Parisian debut

Registered as EC-OIL, Flightradar24 shows that Iberia’s first Airbus A321XLR made its inaugural passenger-carrying departure from Madrid at 08:18 this morning. While this represented a slight delay compared to flight IB1499’s prescribed departure time of 08:00, the aircraft touched down in the French capital with plenty of time to spare, landing at 09:55 (scheduled 10:10) after 97 minutes in the air.

The remainder of the day will also have a distinctly French flavor for EC-OIL. Indeed, Flightradar24’s scheduling data showed at the time of writing that, after returning from Paris to Madrid as flight IB586, the aircraft is penciled in for another return trip to the French capital, outbound as IB589 and back as IB590. According to AeroRoutes, trips to Stockholm (ARN) are also planned for the coming days.

All about the A321XLR

While Iberia had been earmarked as the operational launch customer for the Airbus A321XLR for quite some time, it took longer than the Spanish flag carrier might have liked to make this dream a reality. Indeed, as Simple Flying reported last month, delivery delays forced the airline to adjust its schedules for the type, pushing its maiden revenue-earning rotations back from late October to early November.

In the end, the

member eventually took delivery of its first example of the type a week ago today on October 30th, with Flightradar showing that it touched down in Madrid from Hamburg on the Wednesday evening. According to present fleet data made available by ch-aviation, EC-OIL is the first of eight A321XLR aircraft that will eventually grace Iberia’s fleet, which is dominated by Airbus planes.

In terms of the aircraft’s configuration, Iberia has opted for a two-class layout that will have space for a grand total of 182 passengers, with 168 of these paying guests being accommodated in economy class seats with a 31-inch seat pitch. Meanwhile, the plane’s 14 business class seats are full flatbeds laid out in a 1-1 configuration, with entertainment provided by 18-inch screens with 4K resolution.

What’s next?

While the presence of the Airbus A321XLR on Iberia’s route from Madrid Barajas to Paris CDG is a welcome and novel one, this is not the Spanish flag carrier’s long-term plan for the type. Indeed, these are merely the short-haul proving flights that most long-haul aircraft complete before getting their intercontinental wings, and the airline has much bigger things planned for the type on the horizon.

To begin with, Iberia is targeting destinations on the East Coast of the US, with Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and Washington Dulles (IAD) earmarked as its first two long-haul routes with the A321XLR from Madrid. Recent reports suggest that the Boston flights will begin in mid-November, with Washington starting in January 2025. It’s been a long time coming, but the A321XLR is finally here.