Flying narrowbodies on far-flung missions of up to 11 hours is truly game-changing. Andreas Spaeth travels to Hamburg to learn more about the pioneering Airbus A321XLR
The historic first flight was captured in a series of air-to-air images
AIRBUS/SYLVAIN RAMADIER
At 1100hrs in Hamburg on June 15, 2022, Michael Menking was a little emotional. The head of the Airbus A320 programme described how he felt, standing on the side of the runway at the OEM’s factory in Finkenwerder as the very first A321XLR taxied ahead of take-off:
“This is a special moment, which we very much looked forward to, and I feel it. More than 1,500 employees in Germany, France, the UK and Spain have worked on this since 2018.”
