For many decades, Alitalia was a constant in the skies. The history of civil aviation in the 20th century was also largely shaped by the Italian airline as it was also one of the first movers into the jet age.
However, economic difficulties caused increasing problems for Alitalia, so that operations had to be discontinued in 2021 and taken over by ITA Airways.
I-BIXR is the latest addition to the aircrafttag collection. XR was an Airbus A321-100 built in 1997. Until it was decommissioned, the Airbus operated exclusively for Alitalia.
The Airbus A321 is the longest and heaviest aircraft in the A320 family. Both CFM and IAE offered engines for the A321-100. I-BIXR used CFM engines.
Although externally there are great similarities with the other members of the A320 family, there are many differences in detail.
On each side there are 4 so-called "floor level exits". Here also the emergency exit doors are almost full passenger doors. This was necessary to comply with the evacuation regulations for the higher number of passengers.
For example, the A321's landing flaps are designed differently, and the fuel system is laid out differently.
The big difference to an A321-200 is primarily the weaker engines. This in turn had an effect on the maximum permissible take-off weight.
But nevertheless the A321-100 was gamechanger for short routes with high passenger frequency.
