In September 2024, AeroTime attended an exclusive launch event held by low-cost carrier Wizz Air in London. The event, hosted by the airline’s CEO József Váradi, revealed the announcement that the carrier would be introducing the first of its factory-fresh Airbus A321XLR long-range narrowbodied aircraft on a new route being introduced between the UK and Saudi Arabia.
Beginning on March 31, 2025, the airline’s first Airbus A321XLR (which is to be registered as G-XLRA), was to commence service on the carrier’s new route between London-Gatwick Airport (LGW) and Jeddah (JED) in Saudi Arabia, which covers a distance of 2,930 miles (4,688km).
However, on March 24, 2025, the airline provided an update on this, stating that as the aircraft is still with Airbus in Hamburg, its delivery will be delayed by several days. Consequently, Wizz Air has pushed back the date that it will be introduced on the London-Jeddah route until April 10, 2025, buying the airline an additional eleven days to receive the aircraft and get it ready to enter revenue service.
However, the delay is not all bad news for passengers hoping they would be flying on the latest addition to the Wizz Air fleet. The airline has advised that the route launch will proceed as planned on March 31, 2025, albeit using one of its fleet of Airbus A321neos instead. However, although the aircraft are dimensionally similar, the A321neo does not have the additional fuel tanks and other modifications required to give it the range of the A321XLR.
This means that the replacement A321neo will be forced to operate the route with fewer passengers, freeing up more weight for fuel and eradicating the need for a technical stop en route to refuel.
Given that there will now be eleven rotations to Jeddah using the A321neo, there will be passengers who will be displaced from their booked flights due to the weight restriction. The westbound leg from Jeddah to Gatwick is likely to be affected most, as the high temperatures at Jeddah Airport impede aircraft take-off performance even more, requiring potentially even greater numbers of passengers to be offloaded. The westbound leg also takes around an hour longer, due to the prevailing eastbound headwinds.
“Due to an unexpected delay in the delivery of our first Airbus A321XLR aircraft, which is beyond our company’s control, the route will initially be operated with an Airbus A321neo aircraft for a short period, with a small reduction in passenger capacity,” said the airline in a statement. The airline’s customer service team has begun contacting affected passengers to offer alternative bookings and routings. It is understood that some bookings have already been canceled with passengers receiving refunds to their bank accounts or credits to their Wizz Air accounts to minimize disruption.
The launch of the Gatwick to Jeddah route marks a shift in Wizz Air’s route development strategy, which are being enabled by the longer range and greater capabilities of the incoming Airbus A321XLRs which offer a range of up to 4,700 nautical miles (8,704km) and with a maximum take-off weight of 101 metric tons. The type can carry more fuel than its A321neo stablemate by way of its additional fuel tanks, extending the range of the A321neo family even further.
The launch of the Airbus A321XLR on the London-Jeddah route is to be followed by the second aircraft commencing flights between Milan-Malpensa Airport (MXP) and Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH) from June 2, 2025, with Gatwick to Medina-Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport (MED) starting on August 1, 2025. Each of the A321XLRs will accommodate 239 passengers in a high-density single-class layout.
