The European plane-maker Airbus has kicked off the 2019 International Paris Air Show with the launch of a long-range, single-aisle airliner and an announcement that they have agreed to sell 100 planes to the U.S. plane lessor Air Lease Corporation.
The Los Angeles based aircraft leasing company, has agreed 27 firm orders of the new Airbus A321XLR, 23 Airbus A321neos and 50 A220-300s.
Air Lease Corporation, founded from scratch in 2010, now has 387 Airbus aircraft and is the European plane maker's third largest leasing customer.
At the same conference, Airbus unveiled details of its A321XLR - the latest evolution of the company's hugely successful A320 series.
At a press conference Monday, Airbus claimed the plane now boasted the longest single-aisle plane range in the world at 4,700 nautical miles. The plane can take 244 passengers but on a long-range trip, the number of seats would reduce to about 200.
Airbus said the routes would now open up to operators who had an interest in flying routes such as India to Europe or China to Australia.
The chief commercial officer for Airbus, Christian Scherer, said the new plane would come with a newly designed fuel tank that could carry nearly as much fuel as a bigger twin-aisle plane.
No catalog price was offered for the plane but Scherer added that it had a "health commercial premium" over earlier versions.
The latest version of the XLR is entering an area of the market that the industry expected rival Boeing to address with the announcement of the NMA (New Midsize Aircraft), known alternatively as the 797.
Earlier Monday, Boeing poured cold water on any new plane announcement of its own but said it could "continue to work on the business case of the NMA."
