VIDEO: Watch Air Canada’s 1st A321XLR Take a Test Flight

Air Canada’s first  Airbus A321XLR narrow-body twinjet took to the skies from the manufacturer’s location in Hamburg, Germany last week.

Canada’s largest carrier has 30 of the planes of order. The strategic goal of the fleet addition is to employ it on long-haul markets that its existing fleet of widebody jets would not be able to serve on a sustainable basis. Last fall, AC announced Palma de Mallorca as the aircraft type’s first long-haul destination.

“We’re going to be able to, first and foremost, fly new international markets and maintain a presence year-round when demand is not sufficient to operate the route profitably with a larger aircraft,” Air Canada said in a statement last year.

Air Canada will configure the planes with 182 seats. Fourteen will be business class flatbeds in a 1-1 configuration, while the jet’s 168 seats in the economy class cabin will be laid out in the standard 3-3 setup. Al seats will feature seatback IFE screens.

The airline has also revealed that it will use the A321XLR to serve Dublin, Edinburgh and Toulouse from Montreal. To date, 11 routes are slated to use the planes, nine of them in Europe.

The A321XLR will begin service May 1 with a flight from Montréal to Calgary (YYC). August 1 will see it added on the domestic route from Montréal to Vancouver (YVR). The aircraft’s U.S. debut will take place in October on the Montréal to Los Angeles route.