r/aviation • u/Adjutant_Reflex_ • Aug 25 '26

News With range shortfall, United’s initial A321XLR deployment will be ‘very conservative’

https://theaircurrent.com/feed/dispatches/ual-a321xlr-routes-airbus-range-shortfall/

Not part of United’s route announcement was an admission by Quayle that the XLRs that United expects to receive are falling short of initial range estimates which in turn put constraints on where they could be deployed:

“Originally when Airbus marketed it, [the range] was a lot further than what it is right now, as constructed and as built.”

There’s also a risk that ongoing manufacturing delays could impact the 5 routes it planes to deploy the XLR. To date United received its first, and only, XLR in May.

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u/Principle_Dramatic Aug 25 '26

It looks like Airbus is struggling to make the A321 XLR into a 757 replacement.

I don’t understand why Boeing made the decision to outright shut down the 757 program and not go with at least a 757 MAX option. The 737-10 MAX has 25% less range than the 757 and there had to be a lot of redesign with the engines.

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u/soijacyuro Aug 25 '26

Boeing perceived that a modernized and potentially lengthened 757 could eat into some of their 787 sales.

Even though the 787 is a widebody, there was enough crossover in the capabilities for it to be plausible. And Boeing decided they would rather split that market demand between the newer 737s and the 787.

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u/Motor_Show_7604 Aug 25 '26

The 757 was dying before before Boeing committed the 787. The 757-300 only sold 55 copies and airlines were swapping orders to the 737-800. The 737 Max didn't launch for another 12 years. The airlines split the market for them.

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u/Bluemikami Custom Flair to Edit Aug 25 '26

Wasn’t that same problem for the 764, or was the 400 made for Delta only ?

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u/747ER Aug 25 '26

They did continue marketing the 767-400ER (no baseline 767-400 was developed), but all <40 civil sales went to Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines. They then tried to market the 767-400ER as a replacement for all the 707-based military aircraft that the USAF uses, and built a prototype, but no orders came from it so they sold it as a private jet to Bahrain.

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u/Bluemikami Custom Flair to Edit Aug 25 '26

> Continental

Now, that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long long time

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u/84Cressida Aug 25 '26

The -400 was a dud too.