Up To 8 Hours: The 2 New Airbus A321LR & A321XLR Transatlantic Routes Announced In 1 Day

On October 30, American Airlines revealed that New York JFK to Edinburgh would be its first long-haul route aboard the Airbus A321XLR. This revelation came a week after the oneworld member disclosed that New York JFK-Los Angeles would be the variant’s very first route.

On the same day, the Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat announced its next transatlantic link. This is from Montreal to Agadir aboard the A321LR. It’ll be the first time the Moroccan city has ever had North American service. In fact, until mid-2024, even the significantly more popular Marrakech didn’t have any.

American Will Resume JFK-Edinburgh Flights In 2026

On March 8, 2026, American will take off from New York JFK to the Scottish capital. It will be the second time the market has seen the carrier. It was previously served between 2015 and 2018 aboard the long-since-withdrawn Boeing 757-200. Now the daily service will be in the hands of the 155-seat A321XLR. This has 20 business class suites (1-1), 12 premium economy seats (2-2; similar to domestic first), and 123 main cabin seats.

It’ll be the first time American has had two routes to Edinburgh. The other is Philadelphia, which was originally served in 2019 on the 757 but returned in 2025 on the 787-8/787-9. It epitomizes the phenomenal transatlantic growth experienced by Edinburgh recently. Cirium Diio data shows over one million seats for the first time in 2025, which was 28% more than the prior record, held in 2024.

When American first flew from JFK to Edinburgh, it didn’t have any head-to-head competition. Delta entered the market in 2016, followed by JetBlue in 2024. The airport pair will now have a trio of airlines for the first time in history. Of course, United continues to serve Edinburgh from Newark. However, because it will resume Newark-Glasgow flights in 2026, its Newark-Edinburgh frequency has halved. Perhaps this is partly why American has chosen to recommence Scottish flights from JFK.

Air Transat Has Doubled Its Routes To Africa

Until 2024, Air Transat had never flown to Africa. Its debut came last June, when it took off from Montreal to Marrakech, which is, of course, very much a francophone market. Until then, Marrakech had not had any North American flights. Now it has three carriers.

Its second route is from Montreal to Agadir. Air Transat will inaugurate flights on the never-before-served market on June 12, 2026, with a weekly seasonal service on the 199-seat A321LR. The aircraft will arrive in Morocco at 05:50 on Saturdays and leave at the unusually early 07:20. Will the crew really remain there for a week? While the route will be underpinned by big incentives and perhaps risk-sharing mechanisms, such a crewing setup would obviously be very unusual and expensive.

Agadir is not a particularly large city and is mainly known for inbound tourism, including from Europe. It is a much smaller market than Marrakech. However, both cities also cater to Moroccan Canadians. Booking data for the 12 months to August 2025 shows fewer than 15,000 round-trip passengers between Agadir and North America. For obvious reasons, Montreal was overwhelmingly the largest market, but it was still small in itself. Air Transat only has to fill 398 seats a week.

78 Airport Pairs Next July, But They’ll Certainly Be Increasing

As of October 31 and subject to change, the latest Cirium data for July 2026 shows that the LR and XLR are scheduled to operate 78 airport pairs between the US/Canada and Europe. This includes San Juan, Puerto Rico, which is a US territory. Air Canada and American will be new entrants on the XLR.

Airport pairs have risen from 68 in July 2025. Air Canada from Montreal to Palma de Mallorca is among the most notable additions; it’ll be the carrier’s longest XLR service for now. The overall growth in transatlantic LR/XLR flights means those variants will operate 58% of all US/Canada-European narrowbody flights, which has risen by three points in a year. It’ll continue to rise.