Air Canada has dropped the veil on its upgraded Airbus A321 cabin as part of its plans to retrofit its entire fleet of existing A321s and A320s.
The first A321-200 to receive this treatment was C-GITU, an almost 22-year-old aircraft that has been with the airline since 2001. The new cabin mirrors that on their more modern Airbus A220 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, with a host of new features including larger Airbus Airspace XL overhead bins and slimline business and economy seating.
There is also USB-A and -C power in all seats, upgraded free Wi-Fi powered by Bell, LED mood lighting, new seatback IFE screens with bluetooth connectivity, and even tail and belly cameras to catch the outside action throughout all phases of flight.
The new interior was first introduced on October 21 on flight AC962 from Toronto (YYZ) to St. John’s (YYT).
“We’re proud to welcome customers on board to experience the comfort, convenience, and connectivity of our latest cabins. These upgraded fleet interiors will align the A320s and A321s to the highly popular A220 experience, further strengthening our industry leading product offering,” said Mark Nasr, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Digital at Air Canada. “Additionally, new features such as our inflight entertainment system streaming exterior aircraft camera feeds, Bluetooth connectivity, and free, fast internet connectivity will be extremely popular with travellers. We will continue advancing our product leadership by trialing more new in-flight experiences with this A321 and expanding those learnings to additional aircraft in our fleet.”
The retrofit program extends across their 14 A321s and eight A320s, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. The new interior which is 240 kg/530 lbs lighter than the present cabin, will result in additional fuel savings of 2.4 million litres per year once the retrofit is complete. That will also result in a reduction of GHG emissions by 6,256 tCO2 equivalent per year.
[Featured Photo: Air Canada]
