Paris — Airbus is considering adding extra endurance to the longest-range version of its A321 passenger jet in a further effort to pre-empt a potential new mid-market jet being studied by US rival Boeing, sources say. A new version called the A321XLR is the latest study on the drawing board as the jet makers battle for supremacy in the 200-to 270-seat segment, valued at hundreds of billions of dollars over 20 years. The proposed new A321XLR would carry extra fuel and expand the range of the A321LR aircraft, which recently claimed a long-distance record for single-aisle jets in testing, the sources said. Airbus said it did not comment on its product policy. Airbus has been outselling Boeing in the lower end of the 200-to 270-seat segment with the single-aisle A321, while Boeing has been dominating at the upper end with strong sales of the 787 Dreamliner at the expense of the Airbus A330neo. This is the space into which Boeing proposes launching its 220- to 270-seat mid-market jet, a ...
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