Any discussion of the ubiquitous Airbus A321
inevitably focuses on the neo, LR, and XLR variants. While still subject to change, the XLR’s first revenue-generating service is scheduled for October 28.
The launch customer Iberia
will initially fly the XLR from Madrid to London Heathrow and Paris CDG for familiarization reasons before going to Boston in November and Washington Dulles in January. These are half of the eight XLR routes known as of October 16, joining Aer Lingus to Nashville and Minneapolis and Wizz Air from Milan to Abu Dhabi and London Gatwick to Jeddah.
Related
What Is Your Longest Narrowbody Flight?
On November 4, TAP Air Portugal will return to Manaus, the capital and by far the largest city in the Amazonas.
The Star Alliance carrier previously flew Lisbon-Manaus non-stop on the A330-200 between June 2014 and February 2016.
TAP’s operation will be very different this time. It will route Lisbon-Belém-Manaus on the 171-seat A321LR. It will cover 3,940 nautical miles (7,297 km) each way, with a block time to South America of 11h 45m. It’ll be 11h 20m back to Europe.
When non-stop and one-stop flights are combined, it will be the world’s longest A321 service by distance on regularly configured aircraft. Fancy that? I do!
What is your longest narrowbody flight? Let us know!
The longest one-stop A321 flights
What do the eight routes above have in common? They have nothing to do with the world’s longest one-stop A321 airport pairs!
Using schedules supplied by airlines to OAG for every A321 flight globally in November, the following are the five longest. I’ll analyze the longest non-stop services another time.
Any sufficiently long same-plane, same-flight-number stopping service is included regardless of aircraft variant or configuration or frequency of service. As always, the Great Circle is used to denote distance. The results may vary in other months or if block time was used instead.
|
Nautical miles (km) |
One-stop route in November |
Airline |
Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
|
4,104 (7,601) |
Malé to Munich via Dubai Al Maktoum |
Beond |
A321ceo. It is the world’s longest A321 flight (one-stop and non-stop combined) and the world’s longest narrowbody service. It runs twice-weekly. However, as it uses a 68-seat aircraft in an all-business configuration, it is not necessarily fair. The winter seasonal route began in November 2023, with the A321 operating for the first time in October 2024. It has one A321, which is ex-British Mediterranean. Beond’s other European routes (Milan and Zurich) will use the A319 in November |
|
3,940 (7,297) |
Lisbon to Manaus via Belém |
TAP Air Portugal |
A321LR. Begins on November 4 with three weekly services. It’ll be the world’s longest A321 service on regularly configured aircraft and the world’s second-longest narrowbody operation. Get tickets here! |
|
3,685 (6,825) |
Milan Malpensa to Boston via Ponta Delgada |
Azores Airlines |
A321neo. It operates on Mondays only (Sundays from Boston). The same plane through service (S4229 to the US and S4228 back) capitalizes on Milan-Boston being a good-sized unserved market (45,000 point-to-point passengers). However, Delta begins in May 2025 (four times weekly 767-300ER) |
|
3,450 (6,389) |
Boston to Praia via Ponta Delgada |
Azores Airlines |
A321neo. It operates three times weekly. Azores Airlines is the only European airline with a same-plane, same-flight-number service between North America and Africa (S4281 to the US and S4280 back). It exists for the large Cabo Verde diaspora in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and the cessation of Cabo Verde Airlines flights to Boston (and the US generally) |
|
3,262 (6,041) |
Lisbon to Maceió via Natal |
TAP Air Portugal |
A321LR. Runs three times weekly |
Image: GCMap
TAPping back to Manaus
For obvious reasons, the Portuguese flag carrier is the leading operator between Europe and Brazil. According to OAG schedules data, TAP has 28% of November flights. As the 171-seat A321LR is increasingly deployed, it falls to only a quarter of seats for sale.
Photo: Markus Mainka I Shutterstock
TAP is no stranger to Manaus. Between June 2014 and February 2016, it had a three times weekly non-stop service on the 268-seat A330-200. On November 4, 2024, TAP will return to the Amazonas capital and largest city, this time with the A321LR. It’ll make my jam-packed routes article!
It is scheduled as follows, with all times local. Including the stop in Belém, it will take 11h 45m to reach Manaus.
- Lisbon-Belém: TP51, 10:35-15:50 (8h 15m)
- Belém-Manaus: TP51, 16:50-18:20 (2h 30m)
- Manaus-Belém: TP52, 19:50-23:20 (2h 30m)
- Belém-Lisbon: TP52, 00:20-11:10 (7h 50m)