Airbus Reveals Latest A321XLR Livery

Airbus has just released its latest livery on its Airbus A321XLR. The latest design includes a QR code, which links scanners to special access to the latest news, events, and career opportunities available by the A320 family with the manufacturer.

Behind the scenes

Those interested can get behind-the-scenes information, pictures, and information on flight testing. The link will continually be updated with more details as Airbus releases this. Currently, viewers can check out photos of the QR paint job being completed at its Hamburg facility.

Exclusive content

The link will provide exclusive content, such as limited-time wallpapers, photos, and videos. Career opportunities for the Airbus A320 family are posted, and details for upcoming events from Airbus.

Further information on the aircraft certification process can be discovered with exclusive videos of previous testing.

F-WWAB

The registered aircraft F-WWAB, which is sporting the latest livery, has been in Hamburg since February 6th, when the aircraft departed Toulouse–Blagnac Airport for Hamburg, following the below schedule:

• AIB01AB departed February 6th from Toulouse–Blagnac Airport (TLS) at 12:14, arriving at Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport (XFW) at 14:18.

The aircraft will return to Toulouse on February 14th, as below:

• AIB11AB, departing Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport (XFW) at 14:05, arriving at Toulouse–Blagnac Airport (TLS) at 20:35.

Given that the block time from Toulouse to Hamburg and visa versa is usually just over two hours, it's clear that the return flight could be used for further testing en route. F-WWAB was first registered in October of last year.

Rejected take-off tests

As previously reported on Simple Flying, the same aircraft, F-WWAB was put through its paces for rejected take-off tests in October. This aircraft was the third Airbus A321XLR Prototype to perform its rejected takeoff test in Hamburg-Finkenwerder. The airplane then joined the two other testbeds, WXLR and WWBZ, to complete all the necessary testing for certification.

A Rejected Take-Off (RTO) is usually thought of as one of the most demanding tests an airplane has to undergo for its certification trials. The RTO test is performed under the worst possible conditions, such as thoroughly worn-out brakes, an aircraft loaded to maximum takeoff weight, and no use of thrust reversers.

The A321XLR

The Airbus A321XLR will have a range of 4,700 nautical miles (5,400 miles) and be able to fly nonstop routes for close to eleven hours. This makes city pairs such as New York-Rome, Delhi-London, and Sydney-Kuala Lumpur possible while retaining the superior single-aisle economics of a narrowbody.

The XLR can fly around 30% further than an A321neo and 15% further than an A321LR, so it does need to carry more fuel, increasing the maximum take-off weight (MTOW). The heavier MTOW means upgrading, among other things, the landing gear and braking systems, which have to be flight-tested and certified.

The A321XLR also complements widebody aircraft by serving the same routes at off-peak times or in cases of significant seasonal variation in demand.

Sources: Airbus, Twitter