https://imgur.com/gallery/am6i4TL

The first 321LR for Jetblue has been spotted out of the paint shop with a new tail design “waives” as well! Note the 3LR door (found on CEO 321s) has been plugged as well. To be N2105J. There also seems to be a large block of windows plugged just starting at the letter “e” where the old 2LR door used to be as well.

Great looking plane.

Nice. Will be exciting to see what B6 does with it

Antarius wrote:

Nice. Will be exciting to see what B6 does with it

Is this for Hawaii, Europe, or deep South America?

dfwking wrote:

Antarius wrote:

Nice. Will be exciting to see what B6 does with it

Is this for Hawaii, Europe, or deep South America?

Europe to start, who knows after.

Love the wavie tail. I guess it will be interesting to see where they serve first. Does anyone know the seating config?

Did they ever confirm if it was getting the Mint cabin? Do they code-share with anybody?

Pointless them launching Europe services given the current US travel embargo.

VSMUT wrote:

Did they ever confirm if it was getting the Mint cabin? Do they code-share with anybody?

I believe they are getting a new mint cabin. Haven't confirmed what it looks like though. I think there are still details kept under wraps right now like which london airport its flying out of. Without that, hard to have a partner on the other end.

TC957 wrote:

Pointless them launching Europe services given the current US travel embargo.

Still. They will use them domestically, regionally & jump in when the TATL market opens up. They would need at least 6-7 to start for that anyway.

keesje wrote:

TC957 wrote:

Pointless them launching Europe services given the current US travel embargo.

Still. They will use them domestically, regionally & jump in when the TATL market opens up. They would need at least 6-7 to start for that anyway.

It is a next year start up

I think they will be fine

The door configuration suggest this is to be a low density premium heavy scenario. But without the 2LR doors the operator will have great flexibility to determine the premium seating.

TC957 wrote:

Pointless them launching Europe services given the current US travel embargo.

Oh man, why didn’t somebody tell them about that? What a waste of an airplane order!

The plugged windows lets you know where the bulkhead, Lav, and mint marketplace will be separating MINT from Economy. Glad to see there won't be any doors mid cabin and therefore no FAs needing to sit mid cabin. All of the long range configs should have MINT, that will be the secret to the routes being profitable with a narrowbody.

If only ALL the 321s could be reconfigured with this door set up.

N766UA wrote:

TC957 wrote:

Pointless them launching Europe services given the current US travel embargo.

Oh man, why didn’t somebody tell them about that? What a waste of an airplane order!

Um, I’m hoping this is sarcasm because these planes were ordered well before the pandemic.

chonetsao wrote:

The door configuration suggest this is to be a low density premium heavy scenario. But without the 2LR doors the operator will have great flexibility to determine the premium seating.

Not necessarily. Aer Lingus operate their LRs with a 16/168 config with the same door config. I wouldnt call that "premium heavy"
The plugged door isnt needed below 200 capacity.

*EI use the same Thompson lie flat seats as B6, although without the partitions.

If anything, when B6 does begin flying to Europe it can take advantage of the pent-up demand for transatlantic travel. I suspect more than a few 2020 VFR visits, weddings, honeymoons and other trips of a lifetime have been postponed on both sides of the pond. B6 has also built up quite the FFer base in the Boston and NYC areas too, as well as hub connectivity at not just BOS but JFK as well. Perhaps EWR could function as a transatlantic gateway too?

SurfandSnow wrote:

If anything, when B6 does begin flying to Europe it can take advantage of the pent-up demand for transatlantic travel.

There's no pent-up demand. There is destroyed demand. Don't expect a blip above long-term trend. Expect years to return to 2019 levels.

keesje wrote:

TC957 wrote:

Pointless them launching Europe services given the current US travel embargo.

Still. They will use them domestically, regionally & jump in when the TATL market opens up. They would need at least 6-7 to start for that anyway.

Seven? You think they're going to start with six frequencies and a spare?

Nicknuzzii wrote:

Mint cabin ends right around the “e” in JetBlue?

Which "e" ?

MIflyer12 wrote:

SurfandSnow wrote:

If anything, when B6 does begin flying to Europe it can take advantage of the pent-up demand for transatlantic travel.

There's no pent-up demand. There is destroyed demand. Don't expect a blip above long-term trend. Expect years to return to 2019 levels.

You seem to have a crystal ball somewhere; care to give me the lotto numbers???

Nobody knows how long it'll take to fully recover; we're still in full blown pandemic (especially in the US) so today's travel numbers are irrelevant.
It is estimated that people will want to travel once the pandemic is behind us; people are losing their mind getting more-or-less stuck at home and want to see new places, new faces.
Plus, business demand is also expected to pick back up when the travel restrictions between the US and Europe are lifted; you can conduct only so much business virtually, you need at some point to see your business partner.

TC957 wrote:

Pointless them launching Europe services given the current US travel embargo.

CURRENT travel restriction; those won't last.

Successful companies are the ones who prepare for the future, not the today.

Eagleboy wrote:

chonetsao wrote:

The door configuration suggest this is to be a low density premium heavy scenario. But without the 2LR doors the operator will have great flexibility to determine the premium seating.

Not necessarily. Aer Lingus operate their LRs with a 16/168 config with the same door config. I wouldnt call that "premium heavy"
The plugged door isnt needed below 200 capacity.

*EI use the same Thompson lie flat seats as B6, although without the partitions.

Thanks. I did not know about this. I thought EI's A321LR has 3LR/4LR in the rear section (2 sets of full exit doors after the overwing section.).

WayexTDI wrote:

TC957 wrote:

Pointless them launching Europe services given the current US travel embargo.

CURRENT travel restriction; those won't last.

Successful companies are the ones who prepare for the future, not the today.

Besides which, this is the sort of scenario where the flexibility of the A321LR will really shine. Until the travel restrictions are lifted, it can just as well do domestic services in the US.

Jetblue (unintentionally) is lucky to have those early A321LR slots. Some of their bigger competitors would pay a premium for those slots, to restore international flights, networks profitably, while traffic is still down 40-70%.. They have been converting slots to XLR's http://mediaroom.jetblue.com/investor-r ... -162857598

How do we know this isn’t just a Mint 2.0 regular NEO? I’d think the premium cabin would go a little further back with the LRs than what we see here with the plugged windows that appear to end roughly where the mint 1.0 premium cabin ends.

JoseSalazar wrote:

How do we know this isn’t just a Mint 2.0 regular NEO? I’d think the premium cabin would go a little further back with the LRs than what we see here with the plugged windows that appear to end roughly where the mint 1.0 premium cabin ends.

Because Jetblue wasn’t going to take on any Mint 1.0 NEO planes. Any mint NEO will be of the new seats and LR/XLR variants

FARmd90 wrote:

JoseSalazar wrote:

How do we know this isn’t just a Mint 2.0 regular NEO? I’d think the premium cabin would go a little further back with the LRs than what we see here with the plugged windows that appear to end roughly where the mint 1.0 premium cabin ends.

Because Jetblue wasn’t going to take on any Mint 1.0 NEO planes. Any mint NEO will be of the new seats and LR/XLR variants

I never said anything about a mint 1.0 NEO. But there will be Mint 2.0 NEOs that will be different from mint 2.0 LRs, namely the number of premium seats/crew rest provision. At least according to someone fairly high up with whom I was discussing it.

chonetsao wrote:

But without the 2LR doors the operator will have great flexibility to determine the premium seating.

Yet, they still put something (most likely a lavatory) in the same spot where it is now with a 2L/R door configured plane, so I'm curious as to what the layout is. If its all solo angled seats, perhaps they can still increase Mint seat count within the same footprint. But if thats the case, why the lower density suggested by the plugged 3 L/R doors?

With this door configuration, does anyone know the max passenger capacity?

StinkyPinky wrote:

chonetsao wrote:

But without the 2LR doors the operator will have great flexibility to determine the premium seating.

Yet, they still put something (most likely a lavatory) in the same spot where it is now with a 2L/R door configured plane, so I'm curious as to what the layout is. If its all solo angled seats, perhaps they can still increase Mint seat count within the same footprint. But if thats the case, why the lower density suggested by the plugged 3 L/R doors?

With this door configuration, does anyone know the max passenger capacity?

Looks like 165 according to the older article below. Mint 1.0 is 159 seats. Without L3/R3 doors taking up space, it could be bumped up. I’d imagine the mint 2.0 NEO with 16 Thompson vantage solo seats and this cabin flex layout with L3/R3 plugged could probably yield 8 rows of mint 2.0 (16 seats) and 24 rows of core, for 160 total seats, which would keep it at the 165 and below. <— just my prediction, that’s not based on anything I’ve heard.

https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2016/08/1 ... o-layouts/

“Airbus notes that this 165-seat model would permanently delete doors 2, activation of one or two of the overwing window exits, moving doors 3 back four frames, and indeed potentially deactivating doors 3.”

JoseSalazar wrote:

FARmd90 wrote:

JoseSalazar wrote:

How do we know this isn’t just a Mint 2.0 regular NEO? I’d think the premium cabin would go a little further back with the LRs than what we see here with the plugged windows that appear to end roughly where the mint 1.0 premium cabin ends.

Because Jetblue wasn’t going to take on any Mint 1.0 NEO planes. Any mint NEO will be of the new seats and LR/XLR variants

I never said anything about a mint 1.0 NEO. But there will be Mint 2.0 NEOs that will be different from mint 2.0 LRs, namely the number of premium seats/crew rest provision. At least according to someone fairly high up with whom I was discussing it.

As far as I know Jetblue was not planning on taking any deliveries of standard none LR NEOs with Mint 2.0. Anything that would be delivered with mint would be either a LR or XLR. But as we all know plans change with aviation especially now. I haven’t heard of any new mint plans being delivered.

Aer Lingus uses the same door configuration for their A321LR aircraft.

The only difference appears to be the number of plugged windows in the forward fuselage on the JetBlue version.



Aer Lingus uses the cabin flex option from Airbus, three washrooms are squeezed into the rear galley for economy, with one as normal in the forward for business. There's a bulkhead between business and economy but no mid cabin washroom or anything else of that sort, door 3 is also plugged allowing an additional row, it just lacks a window.

This layout results in 16/168 which is an increase in both classes over the 757s it replaces, pleasing to the accountants at the airline, goes unnoticed by passengers but not exactly popular with cabin crew.

The fact JetBlue appear to be placing a washroom or some other kind of cabin fixture in the forward cabin between business and economy suggests they'll inevitably have a lower overall seat count than Aer Lingus.

FARmd90 wrote:

JoseSalazar wrote:

FARmd90 wrote:

Because Jetblue wasn’t going to take on any Mint 1.0 NEO planes. Any mint NEO will be of the new seats and LR/XLR variants

I never said anything about a mint 1.0 NEO. But there will be Mint 2.0 NEOs that will be different from mint 2.0 LRs, namely the number of premium seats/crew rest provision. At least according to someone fairly high up with whom I was discussing it.

As far as I know Jetblue was not planning on taking any deliveries of standard none LR NEOs with Mint 2.0. Anything that would be delivered with mint would be either a LR or XLR. But as we all know plans change with aviation especially now. I haven’t heard of any new mint plans being delivered.

That would be very surprising since they just announced 7 flights between EWR and SFO/LAX on mint. My guess is all 5 non-LR deliveries next year will be of mint config. They really don't need all-core NEOs for a couple of years.

Hot off the press.

Regular NEO, it appears (unless “LR” was deliberately omitted and NEO used instead), with mint 2.0.

“Ribbon” tailfin.

tphuang wrote:

FARmd90 wrote:

JoseSalazar wrote:

I never said anything about a mint 1.0 NEO. But there will be Mint 2.0 NEOs that will be different from mint 2.0 LRs, namely the number of premium seats/crew rest provision. At least according to someone fairly high up with whom I was discussing it.

As far as I know Jetblue was not planning on taking any deliveries of standard none LR NEOs with Mint 2.0. Anything that would be delivered with mint would be either a LR or XLR. But as we all know plans change with aviation especially now. I haven’t heard of any new mint plans being delivered.

That would be very surprising since they just announced 7 flights between EWR and SFO/LAX on mint. My guess is all 5 non-LR deliveries next year will be of mint config. They really don't need all-core NEOs for a couple of years.

Is there an actual increase in mint flights with all these new announced mint routes or is it a reshuffling of the current mint fleet?

FARmd90 wrote:

tphuang wrote:

FARmd90 wrote:

As far as I know Jetblue was not planning on taking any deliveries of standard none LR NEOs with Mint 2.0. Anything that would be delivered with mint would be either a LR or XLR. But as we all know plans change with aviation especially now. I haven’t heard of any new mint plans being delivered.

That would be very surprising since they just announced 7 flights between EWR and SFO/LAX on mint. My guess is all 5 non-LR deliveries next year will be of mint config. They really don't need all-core NEOs for a couple of years.

Is there an actual increase in mint flights with all these new announced mint routes or is it a reshuffling of the current mint fleet?

Net increase in planes, destinations, frequencies, and total flights. Email out today says this new Mint NEO will enter service this fall. There will be more mint 2.0
NEOs in addition to the LR/XLRs, I predict. Could be an LR, but no mention of it.

Pretty sure BA’s 321neos are also missing the 2L/R door.
They have Door 1, plus only one of the two over wing exits plus door 3 and 4

Nicknuzzii wrote:

tphuang wrote:

FARmd90 wrote:

As far as I know Jetblue was not planning on taking any deliveries of standard none LR NEOs with Mint 2.0. Anything that would be delivered with mint would be either a LR or XLR. But as we all know plans change with aviation especially now. I haven’t heard of any new mint plans being delivered.

That would be very surprising since they just announced 7 flights between EWR and SFO/LAX on mint. My guess is all 5 non-LR deliveries next year will be of mint config. They really don't need all-core NEOs for a couple of years.

Don’t forget EWR-AUA/LAS/SAN/SXM too.

To be fair, I'd expect EWR-AUA/SXM to be Saturday-only Mint service in line with the Caribbean service from JFK. They don't take any additional aircraft time because transcon Mint is reduced on Saturdays due to lower demand.

TUGMASTER wrote:

Pretty sure BA’s 321neos are also missing the 2L/R door.
They have Door 1, plus only one of the two over wing exits plus door 3 and 4

This is about L3/R3, not 2. 2 is gone from all NEOs now (ACF). But this is the first NEO for jetblue to have door 3 plugged.

Mods could we have the title changed to “B6 321N, seen with new door config” or something similar. Since it can’t officially been proven to be a LR or non LR.

JoseSalazar wrote:

TUGMASTER wrote:

Pretty sure BA’s 321neos are also missing the 2L/R door.
They have Door 1, plus only one of the two over wing exits plus door 3 and 4

This is about L3/R3, not 2. 2 is gone from all NEOs now (ACF). But this is the first NEO for jetblue to have door 3 plugged.

Oops, my bad... so now door 3 has become door 2, door 4 has become door 3 , and door 2 has been put out to pasture . Got it.

FARmd90 wrote:

Mods could we have the title changed to “B6 321N, seen with new door config” or something similar. Since it can’t officially been proven to be a LR or non LR.

https://aibfamily.flights/A320/10101

This says it’s an LR. Guess we will find out soon enough.

Same photo in a bigger size by AIB Family Flights, which also thinks it is an A321LR: https://aibfamily.flights/A320/10101
Their pages also get updated with more photos and activity as production progresses and more photos are taken.

The registered trademark symbol (®) normally next to the JetBlue logo is also missing on the fuselage (for now presumably), though is present on the tailfin.

Edit:

JoseSalazar wrote:

FARmd90 wrote:

Mods could we have the title changed to “B6 321N, seen with new door config” or something similar. Since it can’t officially been proven to be a LR or non LR.

https://aibfamily.flights/A320/10101

This says it’s an LR. Guess we will find out soon enough.

Beat me to it.

It’s not the LR. It’s a regular MINT aircraft but the first one a NEO. They just said so on our intranet. It will join the other MINT routes this fall.

SoCalFlyer wrote:

It’s not the LR. It’s a regular MINT aircraft but the first one a NEO. They just said so on our intranet. It will join the other MINT routes this fall.

I thought that when I read it too. But, the announcement just said NEO. An LR is still a NEO. They didn’t say it wasn’t an LR. AIB showing it’s an LR. Someone on another forum said it was the LR that will be used for ETOPS proving runs. Guess we will see.

JoseSalazar wrote:

SoCalFlyer wrote:

It’s not the LR. It’s a regular MINT aircraft but the first one a NEO. They just said so on our intranet. It will join the other MINT routes this fall.

I thought that when I read it too. But, the announcement just said NEO. An LR is still a NEO. They didn’t say it wasn’t an LR. AIB showing it’s an LR. Someone on another forum said it was the LR that will be used for ETOPS proving runs. Guess we will see.

I thought they are not scheduled to take the first LR until next year. I don't think it should take another 4 months for this aircraft to join the fleet.

tphuang wrote:

JoseSalazar wrote:

SoCalFlyer wrote:

It’s not the LR. It’s a regular MINT aircraft but the first one a NEO. They just said so on our intranet. It will join the other MINT routes this fall.

I thought that when I read it too. But, the announcement just said NEO. An LR is still a NEO. They didn’t say it wasn’t an LR. AIB showing it’s an LR. Someone on another forum said it was the LR that will be used for ETOPS proving runs. Guess we will see.

I thought they are not scheduled to take the first LR until next year. I don't think it should take another 4 months for this aircraft to join the fleet.

Yeah. I thought the same thing. Not sure how accurate AIB is with their naming it an LR. But one JB pilot mentioned it was the airframe to do ETOPS stuff. Another said it was just a low density mint 2.0 NEO. So, I’ll wait for a more credible/definitive announcement. The company just said mint NEO. Didn’t mention LR. But I imagine a leaked photo with no motors hung isn’t how they wanted to reveal the LR, so maybe it was deliberately vague.

MIflyer12 wrote:

SurfandSnow wrote:

If anything, when B6 does begin flying to Europe it can take advantage of the pent-up demand for transatlantic travel.

There's no pent-up demand. There is destroyed demand. Don't expect a blip above long-term trend. Expect years to return to 2019 levels.

There is a lot of pentup demand NOW. All that's keeping people from traveling are the travel bans. As soon as the travel bans are lifted you will see a v-shaped recovery in travel as steep as the one we saw in the stock market.
I guess 2 years is plural but that's about as far as this will last, IMO. Especially from BOS.
On a related note, this crisis will actually play in favor of B6. Slots at both LHR and AMS are likely to become available and quite possibly at reduced prices.