JetBlue Can Now Expand Europe Long-Haul Strategy With Airbus XLR Order
Photo Credit: JetBlue has committed to 13 long-range Airbus jets. The airline already flies an earlier version of the airplane, the A321. AL.com via AP / Sharon Steinmann
Skift Take
By ordering Airbus' longest-range narrowbody jet, JetBlue showed it's serious about international expansion. The jet it ordered earlier in the year has enough range to fly to London, so the airline probably intends to fly farther into Europe.
JetBlue Airways' European strategy became clearer Thursday when the airline committed to an airplane capable of flying not only from the U.S. East Coast to London or Dublin but also from Boston and New York to south, central, and northern Europe.
JetBlue became the third U.S. carrier to say it plans to fly Airbus' newest narrowbody jet, the A321XLR. Airbus introduced the single-aisle airplane, which should fly as far as 4,700 nautical miles, this week at the Paris Air Show. American Airlines committed to 50 earlier in the week, while Frontier Airlines said it would take 18.
In April JetBlue announced it would fly from its Boston and New York focus cities to London by 2021. But JetBlue didn't say where else in Europe it might fly, likely because it didn't have the right aircraft for Continental Europe. For London JetBlue had committed
