Airbus is proceeding apace with the final stages of testing before the first A321XLR aircraft is delivered to its launch customer, Iberia.
On October 1, 2024, the first aircraft slated for delivery conducted its first flight test at Airbus’ airfield at Hamburg-Finkenwerder Airport (XFW), near Hamburg, already painted in Iberia’s livery.
The four-hour flight took the aircraft on a course over the northernmost parts of Germany and the Netherlands and then over the North Sea, flying several circular patterns along this itinerary.
During the test, the A321XLR aircraft sported the provisional registration D-AVYR, although will be changed to EC-OIL when it enters service with the Spanish airline.
The same aircraft was previously spotted at the same facility a few days earlier, conducting rejected takeoff tests.
Iberia has scheduled the firstA321XLR flights on October 26, 2024, when it will fly two rotations out of its Madrid-Barajas (MAD) base, first to London-Heathrow (LHR) and to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) later the same day
The type’s transatlantic debut will, in principle, be on November 14, 2024, when it will operate the service between Madrid and Boston-Logan International Airport (BOS). From January 2025, Iberia also plans to deploy its A321XLR on the route to Washington-Dulles (IAD).