So far long ranges were covered by very large aircrafts like the A330, A340, A350 and the massive A380.
So far the A320 family was used for regional flights, inter europe flights and so on but the A321LR changes that completly. It has place
fpr 206 passengers but long range of 7400km.
This janury the prototype made a testflight from Paris to New York and also later on from Toulouse to Seychelles.
There are already over 500 orders and the aircraft is scheduled to be introduced in the market by 2019.
France for example has the problem, that we have areas of our nation all round the globe. From La Réunion, New Caledonia, French Polynesia and so on. Our nation guarantees cheap flights there
so flights from french airlines like Air France, Air Calin, Air Austral and so on are heavily subsidized. In 2015 i sat with maybe 40 others in a huge A340 to La Réunion and the ticket was cheap. So you know what the state had to pay. It was awesome for me and my girl though, because we had our own rows and could sleep stretched out ha ha
That said, the A321LR opens new posisbilities, not just to operate such routes more efficient but also offer new routes which not have been profitable before.
There is no other aircraft in that market segment with that range and Boeing has nothing to counter. It will take them years to introduce something similar.
For other national airlines the A321LR also is very positive. Russia for example would also a prime candidate
Russian airlines should hurry to order. Because we get so many orders of it so who orders first, gets first delivered.