The future of the long-haul narrowbody market is now slightly clearer. Airbus has officially launched a 4,000nm (7,400km)-range version of the A321neo that can match or exceed the Boeing 757-200, including the niche role of flying from the US East Coast to secondary cities in western Europe. At the moment Boeing prefers to laugh at the Airbus forecast of up to 1,000 aircraft orders in this segment, but its rivals in Toulouse may enjoy the last guffaw. Airbus’s numbers were hardly plucked out of thin air: Boeing sold more than 1,000 757s with essentially the same seat count and range as the newly launched long-range A321neo.
NEWS OPINION: Airbus in it for the long-haul with A321
