The A321 is the stretched member of Airbus's A320 family, carrying about 185 to 230 passengers. American Airlines flies one of the world's largest fleets, so A321s are especially common over Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth.
A321 at a glance
- First flight
- 1993
- Length
- 146 ft (44.5 m)
- Wingspan
- 111 ft 10 in (34.1 m); 117 ft 5 in (35.8 m) with sharklets
- Engines
- 2 × CFM56-5B or IAE V2500 turbofans
- Seats
- 185–230
- Cruise speed
- ~450 kt (518 mph) / Mach 0.78
- Service ceiling
- 39,000–39,800 ft
- Range
- ~3,200 nmi
How to recognize the A321
The A321 is the long, skinny one. Its wing is close in size to the A320's, so the extra 23 ft of fuselage makes it look stretched, with a long nose section ahead of the wing.
- Doors: classic A321s have four full-size doors per side: front, just ahead of the wing, just behind the wing, and rear. There are no small overwing hatches. Some newer cabins replace the middle doors with overwing exits.
- Engines: round nacelles; CFM56-5B versions show the exhaust cone, while IAE V2500 versions have a long tube-like cowl. These are the most powerful engines of the family.
- Wingtips: small triangular fences or larger curved sharklets.
- Gear: tall landing gear, but the long body still rotates steeply on takeoff, and the tail can look close to the runway.
- Flaps: double-slotted trailing-edge flaps; on approach you may see more segmented flap surfaces than on an A320.
- Sound and look: a deeper roar on takeoff because it runs near maximum weight on many routes.
The 757-200 is the other long narrowbody; it is larger still, with a tall, spindly landing gear and a much bigger wing.
Where and when you'll see it
American (callsign AAL) has the largest US A321 fleet, using them on everything from Charlotte and Philadelphia shuttles to transcontinental flights and Hawaii. Delta (DAL) and JetBlue (JBU) also fly older A321s, and many visiting carriers from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean bring them in too.
Cruise is generally FL330 to FL370; heavier loads sometimes keep it lower early in the flight. On final it flies at roughly 140 to 150 kt at 2,000 to 3,000 ft. On ADS-B it appears as type A321 with an airline callsign. Long arrival streams over Charlotte and Philadelphia are full of them.
American also flies a premium A321 configuration on some transcontinental routes between New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. In busy summer months A321s are used on Hawaii flights from West Coast cities, making long overwater trips that once needed a widebody.
Easily confused with
- Airbus A321neo: The A321neo has much larger engines and always carries sharklets.
- Boeing 757-200: The 757-200 is even longer, has a bigger wing and very tall landing gear.
- Boeing 737-900 / 737-900ER: The 737-900ER sits low with flat-bottomed engines and has overwing exit hatches.
Quick facts
- The A321 is about 23 ft (6.9 m) longer than the A320, with extra fuselage plugs ahead of and behind the wing.
- It uses double-slotted flaps to keep landing speeds reasonable despite its higher weight.
- American Airlines operates one of the largest A321 fleets in the world.
A321 questions
Is the A321 a widebody?
No. It is a single-aisle narrowbody, just a long one; its cabin is the same width as an A320's.
How do I tell an A321 from an A320 overhead?
Judge length versus wingspan: the A321's fuselage is clearly longer than its wingspan, while the A320 looks closer to square. Up close, the A321 has extra full-size doors near the wing.
Cities where it's a regular
New York City · Los Angeles · Chicago · Dallas–Fort Worth · Atlanta · Washington, D.C. · Philadelphia · Miami · Phoenix · Boston · San Francisco · Detroit · Seattle · Minneapolis · Tampa · San Diego · Baltimore · Orlando · Charlotte · Portland · Austin · Sacramento · Pittsburgh · Las Vegas · Cincinnati · Kansas City · Cleveland · Nashville · San Jose · Jacksonville · Providence · Raleigh · Richmond · Salt Lake City · Buffalo · Tucson
Spot one live
Open the live sky tool and look for A321 in the type column, or browse the live map on airplanes.live.