Düsseldorf International Airport in Germany believes that the Airbus A321XLR will be a game-changer. It anticipates a return of long-haul flights, including those to the United States with two of the big three. Its CEO, Lars Redeligx, told Aviation Week that the A321XLR is the ideal aircraft for airlines looking to fly to places like Düsseldorf, especially as there is plenty of demand.
The airport previously had regular service to North America with several airlines, but all have since pulled out. That said, Condor regularly offers a handful—and I mean just a handful—of long-haul flights to New York JFK Airport. Previously, the airport had flights to North America with the likes of Lufthansa, airBerlin, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Eurowings to name a few. It now wants its once-expansive long-haul network restored.
Airbus A321XLR Ambitions
With the range of the Airbus A321XLR, airlines are able to reach as far as the US East Coast. However, the real range depends on a variety of factors, including seat configuration. As I had mentioned in an article last week, the A321XLR’s real range is considerably lower than what Airbus has advertised. Based on Iberia’s figures, the theoretical and actual ranges are shown in the map above from DUS.
Major cities on the East Coast are accessible, including the likes of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. Atlanta just about falls into range, but it is unlikely that any airline would push the A321XLR to those sorts of limits unless there are additional capacity limitations in place for safety purposes. Besides, Atlanta-based Delta has not ordered the XLR. Speaking to Aviation Week, Redeligx said:
“Airlines like Air Canada, United Airlines, American Airlines or IndiGo will receive the A321XLR, which is for our market the perfect aircraft. The return of long-haul routes is very important for us, to come back to our pre-pandemic offering and enhance connectivity for the Rhine Ruhr metro area. We have here one of the largest Japanese communities in Europe. But also demand to the U.S. East Coast is huge.”
Is This Perfect For American?
Condor has operated seasonal flights to New York over the last few years and has reached load factors that approach 100%. However, it typically offers two or three flights in total, catering to both one-off charter and leisure demand. The most recent regular nonstop operation was with Delta Air Lines which was resumed and also ended once more, in 2023, with services to Atlanta. It used a Boeing 767 and achieved very decent loads of about 87% across the 145 (two-way) flights it operated that year.
Prior to that, in 2020, Eurowings flew regularly to New York-JFK and Delta to Atlanta. Both flights were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. American Airlines was long gone by that point, leaving DUS completely in September 2016 when it cut its Chicago connection. At that point, heavy competition from airBerlin (including routes to New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Miami) probably made other gateways less appealing. Between the launch of flights in 2013 and their suspension in 2016, AA achieved an average load factor of 81% on its Boeing 767s.
All this to say that the US-Düsseldorf market has been tried and tested—for the most part quite successfully. With cleaner, leaner and more cost-efficient Airbus A321XLRs, the return of US flights seems somewhat inevitable for the German airport. Beyond the US during its pre-COVID golden age, it had long-haul flights from Singapore Airlines, Japan’s All Nippon Airways, Air China and Cathay Pacific. While that may have been a while ago, the A321XLR presents a new opportunity. With less available widebody capacity, a renewed focus on loads, and an obsession with optimizing costs, Düsseldorf has till now been an afterthought. The A321XLR is set to change all that.
