Airbus A321XLR faces growing range gap after design tweak -sources

PARIS (Reuters) – Airbus is grappling with a growing shortfall in the range of its upcoming A321XLR passenger jet after reaching an agreement with European regulators on design safeguards needed to achieve certification, industry sources said.

The setback has prompted the planemaker to offer some customers potential deals for the larger A330neo to help them fill a gap in targeted performance, the sources said.

“Airbus expects no significant impact on the XLR’s unique range advantage in the single-aisle segment,” an Airbus spokesperson said in response to a Reuters query.