United CEO said new Airbus A321XLR will replace Boeing 757 routes and open new routes

• Starting in December 2025, United will replace its old Boeing 757s with the Airbus A321XLR.

• The narrow-body aircraft can fly up to 8,760 kilometers non-stop, making it ideal for long-haul flights with lower demand.

• United plans to serve existing cities with the A321XLR and add new cities that the 757 couldn’t reach.

Dozens of international airlines have secured more than 550 orders for Airbus’ latest narrowbody aircraft, the Airbus A321XLR, since its launch in 2019.

The jet is poised to become a long-haul workhorse, connecting lower-demand markets that would otherwise be inefficient with a widebody. Thanks to its additional fuel tank, the A321XLR can fly up to 5,400 miles (11 hours) nonstop. That compares to the 4,600-mile range of its predecessor, the Airbus A321LR.

United has purchased 50 A321XLR jets to replace its aging Boeing 757 aircraft. According to the airline, it has 61 Boeing 757 aircraft, with an average age of about 24 years.

Patrick Quayle, United’s SVP of global network planning and alliances, told Business Insider on Wednesday that the A321XLR will take over nearly all of the 757’s existing routes and open up new ones. The first A321XLR is expected to be delivered in December 2025.

“We use the 757 to fly to smaller markets like Tenerife, Spain and Reykjavik,” he said, adding that a Boeing 767 or a Boeing 787 wouldn’t make sense on these routes with lower demand. “The 757 is becoming a bit uneconomical, but we want to keep flying to these cities, and the A321XLR has a longer range and has much better fuel burn and maintenance costs.”

A company spokesperson told BI that the A321XLR’s network will be largely international. She said the only domestic route United consistently uses the 757 is Denver to Lihue, Hawaii, and while the company could still make changes, it doesn’t expect to swap that for the XLR. She added that service from Newark, New Jersey to Lima has yet to be decided.

This means customers can expect the A321XLR to fly existing 757 routes to places such as Faro and Porto in Portugal, Malaga in Spain, Edinburgh in Scotland and Shannon in Ireland.

Quayle said United also plans to fly to places previously inaccessible by narrow-body aircraft, such as France, northern Italy, Scandinavia, West Africa and North Africa.

“You can’t really go further than Spain with a 757,” Quayle said. “The A321XLR can fly much further and will open up new stations that don’t have airline service now, or don’t have United Airlines service.”

The A321XLR heralds a new era of long-haul travel

The A321XLR has received certification from European safety authorities, but is still awaiting certification from the Federal Aviation Administration. However, Airbus reported in July that the aircraft was “near the finish line.”

Spanish flag carrier Iberia is the launch customer and is expected to receive the first A321XLR in November. This launch flight is expected to fly from Madrid to Boston.

The new jet uses 30 percent less fuel than the previous generation of narrow-body aircraft and can carry up to 220 passengers in two classes, making it a perfect choice for airlines other than United looking to serve more niche long-haul markets.

In MarchJason Reisinger, director of global network planning for American Airlines, said the XLR is beneficial because it “can serve routes where a 787 can’t fly, but we still have a nice product on board.”

He suggested routes such as Raleigh, North Carolina, direct to London — eliminating a stop at the carrier’s hubs in Charlotte or New York en route. American has ordered 50 XLRs.

Orders from budget airlines such as IndiGo and Frontier Airlines are examples of the versatility of the aircraft, which can be used for both low-cost and regular flights.

Willy Boulte, former CCO of IndiGo, had said in 2021 that the XLR could fill the gap in flights between Indian cities and destinations in Europe and Asia, citing options such as Beijing, Seoul and Amsterdam.

Frontier CEO Barry Biffle has suggested that the XLR could allow the ultra-low-cost giant to shed its largely domestic footprint and serve more cities in South America and launch new routes to Hawaii and Europe.

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