Middle Eastern carrier Jazeera Airways wants to acquire long-range Airbus A321 Neo LR narrowbodies to fly passengers from London to Thailand via its Kuwait hub, Bloomberg reports.
The airline is even considering the XLR version to allow flights as far as Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China.
“The XLR would be a natural progression,” founder Marwan Boodai said in an interview with the newswire. “When you go east you get a much wider market. You can reach Thailand and Manila and many other destinations with a high density that we can serve best as a low-cost carrier.”
He added: “We want the flexibility of a narrow-body and to be able to fill it, rather than the theoretical advantage of a wide-body,” he said. “The A330’s seat-mile costs are attractive, but can airlines fill it with the consistency they need?”
Jazeera will increase its A320 Neo fleet from one plane now to eight by the end of next year and aims to have double that number by 2023, on top of which it’s mulling a requirement for around 25 more neos that could include the A321 Neo LR or XLR, Ramachandran said in the interview.
Business Traveller recently interviewed Jazeera Airways about its debut in the UK market. You can read that extensive interview here.
