After years of planning, Qantas’ brand-new Airbus A321XLR finally landed in Sydney this morning—only to be upstaged by a major cyberattack and torrential rain.
The sleek new jet arrived at 9:45am from Bangkok, ready to mark a new chapter in the airline’s domestic and regional operations.
The aircraft touched down during wild weather that forced the closure of two Sydney runways and grounded more than 100 flights across the region.
What was meant to be a triumphant photo-op was reduced to a damp whimper, with Qantas cancelling its scheduled press event and issuing no formal comment.
If that wasn’t enough, the airline confirmed just hours later that the personal data of up to six million customers may have been compromised in a cyberattack. Not quite the victory lap the marketing team had in mind.
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Still, beneath the chaos, this is a major move for the Flying Kangaroo. The A321XLR is a game-changer. It’s more fuel efficient, flies significantly further than the ageing 737s it replaces, and has a much nicer cabin to boot.
Wider seats, bigger windows, larger overhead bins (that can now fit carry-ons vertically), ambient LED lighting, and higher ceilings mean this is the kind of domestic upgrade passengers will actually notice. The economy seat width has increased to 17.6 inches, enough to make anyone stuck in 17A a little less miserable.
Qantas Domestic CEO Markus Svensson called the XLR’s arrival “the beginning of an exciting new chapter” and hinted at expanded international routes using the narrow-body jet.
That extra range means Qantas can now fly direct from Melbourne to Hong Kong or Sydney to Bangkok without needing a larger aircraft. It opens up flexibility, especially for testing new routes without gambling on wide-body seat capacity.
While the launch was far from smooth, Qantas is clearly playing the long game. The Airbus XLR is a smart, fuel-efficient, passenger-friendly upgrade that sets the airline up for the next decade. Now it just needs to fix its IT department.
