Against that Airbus has announced a new extended range stretch version of its A321 single aisle aircraft for around 200 passengers, the A321XLR. This will have a range of 4,700 nautical miles and easily be capable of flying many transatlantic routes, Tokyo to Sydney and the high density routes from Japan to Honolulu. This will offer airlines an ideal replacement for ageing 757s and should make transatlantic travel cheaper. The new aircraft has been in the design stage for almost 18 months and plans are to have it introduced by 2023. It will be in direct competition with Boeing's planned new mid-size single aisle aircraft, the NMA. But a final decision has yet to be made on that Boeing aircraft and it is not expencted to enter service until 2025 at the very earliest.
One question yet to be answered is: will passengers be content to fly for 8 or 9 hours in a single aisle aircraft? British Airways has a daily 737 service between London City Airport and JFK. But this is an all-business class service with flat bed seating and it has a stop in Shannon in Ireland where passengers go through US Immigration. Personally I loved the 747 in its various models and the A380 remains my favourite aircraft. But for those not used to travelling on wide bodies, single aisle aircraft will probably present no problem.
On the 737 Max front, realising that the longer the 737 Max is grounded and the more difficult it will be to win over passengers once the aircraft is back in the air, several commentators claim Boeing will be forced to think about a possible rebranding of the aircraft. In Paris yesterday the airline's CFO told Bloomberg that Boeing was open to this possibility.Air Lease CEO John Plueger told CNBC the XLR will be “a blockbuster” when first deliveries start in 2023. “This is in our view a true 757 replacement, but on a much more fuel efficient basis,” he said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/boeing- ... lainternal