Modified Air Astana A321LR to fly nonstop to London
September 27, 2024
A modified Air Astana A321LR is to recommence non-stop services between Kazakhstan’s Almaty International Airport and London Heathrow, using additional fuel tanks to negate the previous route’s fuel stop in Aktau, south-west Kazakhstan.
Although online resource Air Miles Calculator estimates a direct flight between departure and destination to be some 3,045 nautical miles, factoring in diversion and reserve minima, Air Astana has employed additional tanks to complete the route non-stop. This will now no longer include the technical stop in Aktau, a feature of the route since March 2022.
With the exclusion of this refuelling stop, the “route will become fully non-stop and more comfortable,” explained Air Astana, with overall flight time reduced by one and a half hours to approximately nine hours and 35 minutes. This will make it one of the longest narrowbody routes in the world.
The standard Airbus A321LR (the long-range variant of the neo) has a range of up to 4,000 nautical miles, utilising three additional centre tanks. “Ideally suited to transatlantic routes, the A321LR allows airlines to tap into new long-haul markets not previously accessible with current single-aisle aircraft,” explain its manufacturers.
Air Astana currently has nine A321LRs in service, two in storage, and a further seven units on order. Airbus has been approached for comment on its involvement on the modification, including its perspective on whether Air Astana could instead use the manufacturer’s existing standard A321XLR product, which already possess a range of 4,700 nautical miles. However, the airline currently has none of this specific type in its in inventory or order book.
The A321XLR is able to fly for up to eleven hours non-stop and enabling connections such as New York to Rome, London to Vancouver, or Sydney to Kuala Lumpur. A higher maximum take off weight of 101 tonnes (as compared to the A321neo) combined with extra fuel capacity makes this distance possible, complemented by a fuel burn of up to 30% less per seat than previous generation aircraft, notes Airbus on its website.
