At the show, Airbus has been hotly tipped to announce the launch of its longer-range A321XLR narrowbody at the show - a further evolution of the A320 family aimed at 'long and thin' routes such as US coast-to-coast. Exact specifications are still underwraps, but the aircraft carry up to 240 passengers.
All premium carrier La Compagnie will be at the show with its A321LR. (La Compagnie)
If the A321LXR does get launched at Le Bourget, then it will increase pressure on Seattle to finally go ahead and announce the launch of its long-awaited New Mid-market Aircraft (NMA) aircraft. An airliner originally aimed as a 757 replacement, the NMA’s position in the market now seems to have expanded into taking advantage of the growing airline trend for longer and longer routes using narrowbodies, such as the 737 and A321. However, the timeline (entry into service 2025) that Boeing is targeting for NMA has already caused one engine manufacturer (Rolls-Royce) to drop out of the contest, leaving P&W and CFM still in the running. Should Boeing delay its NMA, then it is conceivable that R-R could re-enter this competition. Yet, the longer it leaves it, the more sales the Airbus A321LXR could rack up in the meantime and the closer the industry potentially comes to a complete change in propulsion and configurations to hybrid-electric for short-haul. Complicating matters is the fallout from the 737 MAX – which is not just ‘optics’ on Boeing’s part – but could add additional time to certification for new airliners in the future.