LONDON- Finally after long delays and must anticipation, the European plane-maker, Airbus is set to deliver its first-ever A321XLR aircraft, registered as EC-OIL to Spanish carrier, Iberia (IB).

According to the latest update by FlightRadar24 (FR24), Iberia will operate the first A321XLR delivery flight from Hamburg (XFW) to Madrid (MAD) on October 30, 2024, yes a historical day.

Iberia First Airbus A321XLR

As per FR24 data, Iberia delivery flight IB52 will depart from Hamburg at 4:00 PM local time and will arrive in Madrid (MAD) at 6:27 PM local time after being airborne for around two hours and 30 minutes.

The delivery may be delayed as it’s the delivery flight and everyone wants to celebrate this historic milestone.

Reuters earlier reported that it will be delivered on Tuesday but FlightRadar24 data shows Wednesday evening. Anyways, it’s getting delivered and it is the best news for Airbus, airlines, aviation enthusiasts, passengers, and everyone who follows the field.

So, when will the world’s first delivered A321XLR (as Airbus already has a few test A321XLRs) enter into commercial service?

According to the latest reports and data, Iberia has scheduled the first A321XLR for November 1, 2024. The airline plans to deploy the game-changing plane on Madrid-Paris (CDG) flights.

Further from November 14, the airline plans to deploy A321XLR on Transatlantic flights, i.e. on Madrid-Boston (BOS) route.

All-Airbus fleet operator, Iberia’s A321XLR will be in a two-class configuration with 182 seats. Further, there will be 14 business-class seats and 168 latest Recaro model, the CL3810 economy seats. Well, all previous narrowbody aircraft except A319s have all-economy configurations.

This is also the first time that IAG-backed carrier will operate A321neo aircraft (CFMI engines). According to Planespotters.net data, Iberia has a narrowbody fleet of 17 A320neo, 13 A321-200, 11 A320-200 and four A319s aircraft.