New Airbus jet arrives in Yellowknife for cold-weather tests

With a temperature of -39C on Friday, Yellowknife offered the perfect place to test a passenger jet in extreme cold.

Congratulations to Airbus, then, which sent a new type of airliner to the Northwest Territories capital just in time.

An Airbus A321XLR landed in Yellowknife on Thursday evening for a fresh set of tests. XLR stands for extra long range, with the aircraft being billed as being able to fly further than any other single-aisle passenger jet.

The jet came to Yellowknife from the French city of Toulouse via Iqaluit. Toulouse is home to Airbus headquarters.

An A321XLR can travel for more than 8,000 km and carry up to 244 passengers, while Airbus says fuel consumption is down by 30 percent per seat compared with the last generation of aircraft.

Example routes given by Airbus include Calgary to Paris, and it has already entered transatlantic operation with some airlines. Air Canada expects to take possession of some A321XLRs at the end of this year.

“Indeed, our aircraft is currently in your region,” Airbus Canada head of communications Annabelle Duchesne confirmed to Cabin Radio by email on Friday.

While cold-weather testing for the A321XLR already took place in 2023 and the aircraft’s certification is complete, Duchesne said the company had brought a jet to Yellowknife for “some complementary tests.”

“This has happened on other aircraft certification campaigns as well and is part of the normal development,” she wrote.

Airbus said it could not confirm how long the airliner will remain in the territory.

Yellowknife has spent years working to establish its airport as a cold-weather destination, which is seen as an economic driver potentially worth millions of dollars per year in local spending.

For example, Airbus brought the A220 that now powers some Air Canada Yellowknife-Toronto flights to the NWT capital for tests in 2020.

Korean helicopters, Airbus helicopters and Embraer jets have also been recent visitors for the same purpose.