United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) is set to receive its first A321-200NY(XLR) in December 2025 and will use these new-gen Airbus narrowbodies to replace its ageing Boeing B757 fleet.
In an interview with Business Insider, United’s senior vice president for global network planning and alliances, Patrick Quayle, said the B757 is becoming uneconomical to use for the cities and smaller markets it serves, such as Tenerife Sur and Reykjavik Keflavik. "But we want to continue flying to these cities, and the A321neo(XLR) is long-ranged and has much better fuel burn and maintenance costs.”
The Chicago-based carrier has an order for fifty A321neo(XLR)s. They will mainly be used on flights to international destinations. United currently operates its B757-200s and B757-300s to international destinations such as Dublin International, Edinburgh, Shannon, Lima International, Lisbon, Malaga, Porto, Tenerife, and Reykjavik, the ch-aviation schedules module shows. They are also used broadly in domestic operations across the United States.
However, Quayle said the carrier is also looking at new destinations, previously unreachable with narrowbody gauge aircraft, such as France, Italy, Scandinavia, and parts of Africa. “The A321neo(XLR) can fly much further [than the 757] and will open up new stations that either don’t have service from an airline today, or don’t have United Airlines' service.”
ch-aviation has contacted United Airlines for comment. The ch-aviation fleets module shows the carrier has forty B757-200s (averaging 27.6 years of age) and twenty-one B757-300s (22.1 years on average).
Airbus is set to deliver the first XLR to Iberia (IB, Madrid Barajas) later this year. In November, the Spanish carrier will introduce it to commercial service from Madrid Barajas to Boston.
