Aer Lingus will be delaying the introduction of the A321LR into their fleet. This comes after months of delays to the aircraft and a postponement of routes. The latest updates indicate that the A321LR won't fly in Aer Lingus colors until this fall on one route.

An Aer Lingus A320 family aircraft in flight. Photo: Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus pushes back A321LR launch

One Mile at a Time reports that the A321LR will debut on the Dublin to Hartford route on August 15th, 2019. On the other hand, the A321LR is no longer scheduled to fly on the Dublin to Philadelphia route.

Aer Lingus A321LR seat map in business class. Screenshot of Aer Lingus' booking website.

Aer Lingus' A321LR

Aer Lingus has 14 A321LRs on order. These aircraft are scheduled to replace Boeing 757s that Aer Lingus leases during the summer months.

The A321LRs will replace the Boeing 757s Aer Lingus leases. Photo: Aer Lingus

The A321LRs will feature lie-flat seats in business class. This will be in a staggered configuration and is similar to the product already on many of Aer Lingus' long-haul fleet.

Aer Lingus will offer a staggered lie-flat configuration in business class. Photo: Aer Lingus

For privacy, the ideal seat are the single "throne seats", which don't have a seatmate. They exist because of the way the seats are designed. Each seat's foot cubby is located in a niche under the armrest of the seat in front. This means that, behind the throne seats, the pairs of seat have their foot cubbies in each of the armrests on both sides of the throne seats. And, for the throne seats, the foot cubby is in the armrest between the two seats in front.

Other airlines, such as Swiss, offer a similar seating configuration in long-haul business class. For those traveling together, the pair of seats work well. If you're traveling alone, the throne seats are ideal since you have full privacy and direct aisle access.

A321LR routes

The A321LR will be used to on a host of routes. These include Minneapolis, Montreal, Hartford and Philadelphia. Transatlantic flights to Dublin are some of the shortest routes out there. As a result, these aircraft will arrive in the early morning hours in Dublin. This means they would sit around for some time before a mid-morning to early afternoon departure. Instead of leaving them doing nothing, Aer Lingus plans to operate some A321LRs on short-haul routes in Europe.

This means that some lucky business class travelers will have flatbed seats on short-haul routes. This is a welcome relief compared to current intra-European business class.

Some lucky travelers will see flatbed seats on short-haul, intra-European routes. Photo: Aer Lingus

Overall

The A321LR delays are not good news for Aer Lingus, travelers, or Airbus. Aer Lingus had an urgent need for the "middle-of-the-market" aircraft and selected the A321LR over Boeing's soon-to-be-launched 797.

Hopefully, Airbus will be able to improve efficiency and make-up for these delays in the long-run. But, for now, we wait for Aer Lingus to introduce A321LRs on more routes.

Will you fly Aer Lingus' A321LRs? Let us know in the comments!