Air Astana takes delivery of first A321 NEO

Air Astana (Kazakhstan) has taken delivery of it's first Airbus A321 NEO, joining a mixed Airbus, Boeing and Embraer fleet. The airline is the Republic of Kazakhstan's flag carrier, a joint venture between Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna (51%) and BAE Systems 49%. It commenced operations May 15th 2002. Air Astana has one A320 NEO (delivered November 8th 2016) and orders for eight more A320 NEOs and ten A321 NEOs.

Airbus A321-271N MSN 7567 F/F 5/5/17
Air Astana P4-KDC Delivered 12/30/17

Air Astana - Current Fleet
1 x A319
8 x A320
1 x A320 NEO
4 x A321
1 x A321 NEO
5 x 757-200
3 x 767-300ER
9 x E-190
Total: 32

VietJetAir takes delivery of first A321 NEO

VietJetAir (Vietnam) has taken delivery of it's first (of 31) Airbus A321 NEO, powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines. Hanoi based VJC commenced service, domestically initially, on December 25th 2011, and now operates an all A320 family fleet of 53 throughout South East Asia. The first of 100 737 MAX 200s will start delivering in 2019. Airbus has now delivered 17 A321 NEOs to SriLankan (3), ANA (2), Avianca (2), Hawaiian (2), Novair (2), Azores Airlines (1), Virgin America (4) and WOW Air (1)

Airbus A321-271N MSN 7991 F/F 12/18/17
VietJetAir VN-A646 Delivered 12/29/17

VietJetAir - Current Fleet
27 x A320
26 x A321
1 x A321 NEO
Total: 54

Azores Airlines takes delivery of first A321 NEO

Azores Airlines has taken delivery of it's first Airbus A321-200 NEO, leased from Air Lease Corporation (US), one of six being leased from ALC. The flag carrier of the island territory of Portugal, the airline operates an all-Airbus fleet (detailed below). The airline will launch A321 service from Ponta Delgada to Boston January 12th.

Airbus A321-253N MSN 7972 F/F 12/7/17
Azores Airlines CS-TSF "Breathe" Delivered 12/15/17 [Leased from ALC]

Azores Airlines - Current Fleet
3 x A320-200
1 x A321-200 NEO
3 x A310-300
1 x A330-200
Total: 8

Hawaiian takes delivery of first A321 NEO

Hawaiian Airlines has taken delivery of it's first Airbus A321 NEO, with another 17 on order. Inaugural service will be from Oakland to Kahului January 8th, followed by a variety of island non-stops to California (excluding it's Honolulu hub). The A321s will replace the remaining 767-300/300ERs in HAL's fleet.

Airbus A321-271N MSN 7917 F/F 10/16/17
Hawaiian Airlines N202HA Delivered 10/28/17

Hawaiian - Current Fleet
20 x 717-200
1 x 767-300
7 x 767-300ER
24 x A330-200
Total: 61

Avianca takes delivery of first A321 NEO

Avianca (Colombia) has taken delivery of it's first Airbus A321 NEO (MSN 7770). The aircraft adds to an existing A320 family fleet of 64 units (which includes all four versions). Airbus has now delivered eight A321 NEOs.

Airbus A321-253N MSN 7770 F/F 9/5/17 Avianca N759AV 9/21/17

Avianca - Current Fleet
10 x A318
11 x A319
39 x A320
10 x A321
8 x A330-200
11 x 787-8
Total: 81

ANA takes delivery of first Pratt & Whitney powered A321 NEO

ANA (Japan) has taken delivery of it's first Airbus A321 NEO (MSN 7839), this also becoming the first Pratt & Whitney powered A321 NEO to be delivered. Seven A321 NEOs have now been delivered, with the first six all powered by CFM International engines.

Airbus A321-272N MSN 7839 ANA JA131A Delivered 9/6/17

ANA - Current Fleet

14 x 737-500
7 x 737-700
36 x 737-800
7 x A320-200
3 x A320 NEO
4 x A321-200
1 x A321 NEO
12 x 767-300
25 x 767-300ER
12 x 767-300F
36 x 787-8
22 x 787-9
11 x 777-200
12 x 777-200ER
7 x 777-300
22 x 777-300ER
Total: 231

SriLankan Airlines takes delivery of it's first A321 NEO

SriLankan Airlines has taken delivery of it's first Airbus A321 NEO (MSN 7663 4R-ANC), leased from Air Lease Corp. (US). The aircraft joins two A320 NEO aircraft delivered in February and April, also leased from ALC. SriLankan joins WOW Air as the only operators of both the A320 NEO and A321 NEO. Airbus has now delivered 5 A321 NEOs in total (and 122 A320 NEOs).

A321-253N MSN 7663 4R-ANC SriLankan Airlines (D-AVYO test registration)

Novair leases A321 NEO

Novair (Sweden) leased a new A321 NEO (CFM engines) from Air Lease Corporation (US). A second aircraft is due for delivery in August. The airline returned it's last A321 to it's lessor in March, and has wet leased a variety of aircraft in the interim. The airline specializes in charter flights from Stockholm and Oslo to Mediterranean destinations, and the Canary Islands.

Airbus A321-253N MSN 7746 SE-RKA (seen wearing test registration D-AVXH)

WOW Air receives it's first Airbus A321 NEO

WOW Air (Iceland) has become the second operator of Airbus's A321 NEO, with the delivery of a leased aircraft (MSN 7694 TF-SKY) from Air Lease Corporation (US). This follows two deliveries to Virgin America in April and May. WOW Air also received a new A320 NEO in April (also leased from ALC), therefore becoming the first operator of both A320 & A321 NEO models. An additional A321 NEO is expected to be delivered from ALC in 2018. WOW Air's expanding all Airbus fleet now includes 2 A320s, 1 A320 NEO, 10 A321s, 1 A321 NEO and 3 A330-300s. The airline specializes in ultra low cost medium and long haul flights between the United States and a variety of European destinations, via it's Reykjavik hub.

Virgin America takes delivery of second A321 NEO

Virgin America (US) has taken delivery of the second Airbus A321 NEO (leased from GECAS), and remains the only operator of the re-engined type thus far. Virgin America was in late 2016 acquired by Alaska Airlines, and is expected to be fully integrated into the Seattle based airline over the next two years. Alaska, an all Boeing operator in it's mainline fleet, has stated recently that it is has no plan to change to an all Airbus fleet. Based on existing lease expiration dates, Alaska / Virgin can be expected to operate a mixed Airbus / Boeing fleet for many years to come. [Postscript: as of mid July 2017, Alaska indicated it would in fact seek to remove Virgin America's Airbus fleet, and replace them over time with Boeing aircraft].