JetBlue has long looked at Europe as its next market, and only recently announced its plans to fly routes to London from Boston and New York. Now, it’s taken a step toward flying even further into Europe.
At last week’s Paris Air Show, the airline revealed it had converted thirteen of its 85 orders for A321neos to Airbus’s newly-announced A321XLR. The original A321 order had London in mind as well as transcontinental routes. But the new plane, which has a 15% greater range, would allow JetBlue to fly to France, Germany and Italy as well.
The new extra long-range A321 is proving popular with airlines; over 200 have already been ordered; American Airlines is another customer, likely to replace its remaining 757s. JetBlue also joined a number of other airlines in ordering more A220s, the plane originally developed by Bombardier. They will be used to replace Embraer regional jets in JetBlue’s fleet.
Image: A321 in JetBlue livery (Airbus)
