Qantas Delays A321XLR International Flights, Great News For Travellers
Manila dodges a bullet as Qantas delays plane with world's worst toilet ratio
Qantas has pushed back its first international Airbus A321XLR flight by more than three months, with the jet now set to debut on Brisbane-Manila from 1 February 2027. Initially, Qantas expected its A321XLR to operate on the route from 25 October 2026, taking over from the A330 widebody currently deployed.
A Qantas spokesperson confirmed the delay to Flight Hacks, saying "The A330 will continue operating the Brisbane to Manila service until the end of January 2027, with the A321XLR's introduction delayed due to operational reasons."
The original plan had the A321XLR replacing the A330-200 on Brisbane-Manila later this year. That's now been scrapped, and the A330 will stay on the route until 31 January 2027. Qantas will also make Brisbane-Manila to a daily service for the first time in late 2026.
You might assume this change is bad news, but for Business Class passengers booked on one of these flights, it is a godsend. That’s because Qantas’ A330 has proper lie-flat Business Class seating worthy of long-haul international flying. But the A321XLR is stuck with a domestic recliner product in Business Class, which does not offer direct aisle access or lie-flat. Despite the enormous gap in service, Qantas is charging passengers the same price for either jet.
While Qantas hasn't detailed exactly what their operational reasons are for delaying the XLR’s international debut, we wouldn’t be surprised if Airbus delivery delays are again plaguing the Flying Kangaroo. Or maybe Qantas realised that their XLR really isn’t at all close to the standard passengers expect on an 8 hour 15 minute international flight.
Qantas currently operates seven A321XLR's as of August 2026, of their total 48 ordered. The most recent delivery in mid-June is named Coral Sea and registered VH-OGG, boasting special stickers featuring a vibrant marine conservation livery designed in partnership with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
From 2028, Qantas expects to receive the first of 16 XLR’s with lie-flat Business Class seating. We don’t yet know the exact seat model Qantas will deploy in Business, but we do know that this subfleet will also add entertainment screens to both Economy and Business.
Qantas currently deploys the A321XLR on four domestic routes, from Sydney to Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, as well as between Brisbane and Perth. Melbourne-Perth is scheduled but hasn't started yet.
Qantas’ Huge Toilet Problem
Qantas' first three A321XLRs squeeze in an extra three Economy seats by ripping out one of the plane's two bathrooms, bringing capacity to 200 passengers with just two toilets for 180 people in Economy. That's a 90:1 ratio, crowning Qantas as offering pretty much the worst toilet ratio of any passenger airline worldwide. It’s worse than Scoot, Ryanair, and even Jetstar, which is an embarrassing club to be in.
On a five-hour domestic hop like Sydney-Perth, that works out to 3 minutes 20 seconds of toilet time per Economy passenger. That’s assuming everyone visits exactly once, and not accounting for any takeoff and landing time where passengers are kept in their seats.
Now put one of these jets on Brisbane-Manila, and on paper, the extra flight time helps: 5 minutes 30 seconds per visit if everyone goes once. But on an 8 hour flight, most passengers are visiting the bathroom twice. Budget two visits for each Economy passenger and we are back down to 2 minutes 45 seconds a pop. I haven’t timed my bathroom visits, but that seems pretty quick.
There is a silver lining though. Qantas’ fourth and onwards XLR’s come with the extra toilet in Economy and three less seats. Qantas is also expected to eventually retrofit the original three.
Summing Up
Brisbane-Manila remains earmarked as the A321XLR's international launch route, just later than planned. That's probably for the best. Anyone flying it between now and February 2027 keeps the A330 and its proper Business Class product.
Once the XLR takes over, you're getting a recliner instead of a bed, no seatback screens, and depending on which airframe shows up, potentially one of the worst toilet ratios in the sky on an eight-hour flight. Lie-flat A321XLR Business isn't due until 2028 at the earliest.
