A major milestone took place on Tuesday, April 2nd as the US mega-carrier, American Airlines (A1G) (AAL) introduced its new Airbus A321neo to passengers.
The first flight was American Flight 682 from Phoenix (PHX) to Orlando, Florida (MCO). Other routes will be added this year as additional A321neos join the fleet. American has ordered a total of 100 A321neos, which are powered by CFM LEAP-1A fuel-efficient engines and is ETOPS-certified for longer over-water flights. the A321neo will allow American to carry larger loads on its longer, more densely travelled routes such as Los Angeles and Phoenix to Orlando, or West Coast hubs to Hawaii.
American Airlines (A1G) (AAL) has configured this new aircraft with 196 seats, spread over 129 in its main economy cabin, 47 extra-legroom main cabin extra seats and also 20 first class seats. The jet also features power at every seat and free wireless entertainment and live TV streamed right to each customer’s own device. For those who want to stay connected to work or use their own streaming services, the aircraft has high-speed Wi-Fi from gate to gate along with built-in seat-back holders for tablets and phones. LED mood lighting will further enhance the cabin environment for passengers, with built-in functions to match the time of day.
The aircraft also has the new larger Airspace XL overhead luggage bins that are designed to increase carry-on bag capacity. American is the launch customer for the Airspace XL bins, which provide approximately 40% more overhead storage space for passengers on board the 196-seat aircraft. In addition to equipping its new A321neos with the XL bins, American also plans to retrofit its entire in-service fleet of earlier A321 models – more than 200 aircraft – with the cabin features included on the new A321neos.
Ingo Wuggetzer, Airbus’ Vice President of Cabin Marketing said: “We are very pleased that American Airlines (A1G) (AAL) ’ first A321neos with the Airspace XL bins are now entering service. We constantly work with airline customers to improve our aircraft cabins, and American, in particular, played an instrumental role with us in developing our biggest and best overhead bins to date.”
“We worked closely with Airbus to develop this cabin configuration with the features our customers want, including the Airbus XL overhead bins, which are the largest available for this aircraft and hold 65% more bags than our earlier A321s,” said Janelle Anderson, Vice President of Marketing for American. “Today’s flight is a culmination of years of planning and work to make sure this plane is a good fit for everyone on-board, and we think customers and team members are going to love it.”