The Chicago-based airline plans to use the long-range, single-aisle jet on five new European routes in 2027, including Luxembourg, Ibiza, Spain, \u200band Toulouse, France. They are part of the largest international expansion in the airline’s \u200bhistory, with service to 10 new cities in Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n
Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n Patrick Quayle, United’s \u2060senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, acknowledged “a few teething issues” with the \u200bA321XLR program but said the airline expects to have an adequate number delivered to fly the \u200broutes.<\/p>\n “We feel confident that we will have the number of aircraft needed in order to operate the schedule,” he told reporters.<\/p>\n Other airlines, including Air Canada<\/a> (AC.TO), opens new tab<\/a>, have faced delays in receiving A321XLRs as Airbus has grappled with production and \u200bsupply-chain constraints.<\/p>\n United ordered the A321XLR in 2019 and plans to begin international service with the aircraft \u200bon December 1, 2026, from Washington Dulles to Amsterdam and Dublin.<\/p>\n The A321XLR will also help United phase out \u200cits \u2060aging Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab<\/a> 757 fleet. Quayle said United is phasing out its 757s as the A321XLR jets enter service, and that the fleet plan is continually updated to account for delays at aircraft manufacturers.<\/p>\n Airbus delays, however, have held up the entry into service of United’s A321neo Coastliner fleet, planned \u200bfor premium transcontinental flights.<\/p>\n EUROPE TRAVEL \u200bDEMAND STRETCHES INTO \u2060AUTUMN<\/p>\n United’s expansion comes as the airline sees more European routes remaining viable later in the year.<\/p>\n Quayle said schedules are no longer being cut as \u200bsharply after the U.S. Labor Day holiday, with the season extending into \u200bOctober or \u2060even November.<\/p>\n “The schedule is not being pulled down as quickly in September as it used to be right after Labor Day,” he said.<\/p>\n Air Canada said this month that revenue for September and October \u2060is likely \u200bto break records<\/a> for those months as more premium travelers avoid \u200bthe heat and summer crowds in Europe and Japan.United said it had seen no decline in European travel this summer \u200bbecause of extreme heat<\/a>. “Demand is incredibly strong,” Quayle said.<\/p>\n Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Jamie Freed<\/p>\n Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n Purchase Licensing Rights<\/a> Rajesh Kumar Singh is the U.S. Aviation Correspondent at Reuters, based in Chicago, where he reports on airlines, aircraft manufacturers, and regulatory developments that shape the global aviation industry. Prior to this role, he covered U.S. manufacturing and trade policy, including the U.S.\u2013China trade wars, where his work delved into the disruption facing American businesses and the strategic responses of major corporations. He began his career with Reuters in India, where he reported on a wide range of issues covering the country’s economic complexities\u2014from its recovery after the global financial crisis to the challenges of inflation and governance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Item 1 of 2 An Airbus A321XLR Neo passenger aircraft performs a flying display at the 54th International…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13021],"tags":[42707,7528,2012,4616,42708,42709,1898,1517,42715,42717,17705,17706,9345,42714,1885,42710,39074,37245,37247,37251,1902,42716,1899,1900,1887,1903,9330,1889,42711,9327,1905,1901,9344,25922,42712,1895,5814,42713,37265,7728,9328,9329,8,1897],"class_list":["post-69698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-airbus","tag-aer","tag-aero","tag-air","tag-airbus","tag-airl","tag-airl1","tag-amers","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-aunz","tag-bact","tag-biz","tag-blux","tag-ceeu","tag-cmpny","tag-comair","tag-de","tag-destoukbsm","tag-destousbsm","tag-dli","tag-emea","tag-es","tag-europ","tag-ezc","tag-fin","tag-fr","tag-gb","tag-gen","tag-indg","tag-inds","tag-mtpix","tag-namer","tag-nl","tag-privt","tag-pssngr","tag-publ","tag-res","tag-resf","tag-soci","tag-tour","tag-tpt","tag-tran","tag-us","tag-weu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Rajesh](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/author-service-images-prod-us-east-1.publishing.aws.arc.pub\/reuters\/IM6BVTA6CRCEZLJQPKQC22F7.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n