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Today marks the start of the 2026 Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg, Germany, and seat manufacturer Collins Aerospace has wasted no time in making headlines at this year’s iteration of the event. Indeed, the RTX business has jointly announced with Air Canada that it will be providing both the business class and economy class seats on board the Canadian flag carrier’s incoming fleet of Airbus A321XLR next-generation narrowbody jets.
Air Canada has selected Collins’ ‘Aurora’ suites for its lie-flat business class product on the Airbus A321XLR, while the economy cabin will be fitted with Meridian+ seats. These aircraft are set to enter service in the coming months, although AIX attendees will be able to preview the seats at the show this week.
Widebody Comfort On A Narrowbody Jet
As pictured above, Collins Aerospace’s custom lie-flat Aurora suites will be angled away from the windows on board the incoming fleet of next-generation Airbus A321XLR narrowbody twinjets at 
Air Canada, with one either side of the aisle in a two-abreast configuration. All in all, the jet’s ‘Signature’ business class cabin will have 14 of these suites, with ground-based models of the seats available for AIX attendees to view from today.
RTX, Collins Aerospace’s parent, explains that these seats, which it worked with Air Canada’s design partner, Acumen, on, “offer a balance of privacy and sociability with a noticeably warmer palette, where elegant lighting gently accentuates custom materials, rich wood, stone, and bronze accents.” Cynthia Muklevicz, the Vice President of Global Airlines & Lessors at Collins Aerospace, welcomed the reveal of the Aurora suite, stating that:
“Aurora is designed to provide a widebody business class experience on single-aisle aircraft, offering passengers the comfort, space, and privacy expected on long-haul flights (…) to deliver a true premium experience.”
Custom Made For The Airbus A321XLR
One of the key passenger concerns regarding the increasing use of narrowbody aircraft on long-haul routes has been their ability to replicate the comfort levels traditionally offered by the more spacious widebody aircraft that are more closely associated with intercontinental travel. For this jet, this is something that Air Canada and Collins Aerospace have done by designing a suite that “conforms to the exact dimensions of the XLR.”
In this sense, the parties involved have succeeded in “maximizing passenger living space, providing an extra row of premium seating, and expanding galley capacity to accommodate the catering volume necessary for long-haul service.” Air Canada says that the Collins Aurora suite will set the standard for lie-flat seating on narrowbody aircraft going forward, thanks to its “thoughtful use of space, technology, bespoke materials and finishes.”
Alongside the 14 Aurora suites, Air Canada’s remaining A321XLR guests will be accommodated in a 168-seat economy cabin. This section of the aircraft will feature the Collins Aerospace Meridian+ seat model, which RTX says “incorporates design principles from widebody solutions, utilizing a distinctly contoured architecture to reclaim additional area for passenger hips, knees, and elbows.” It will also feature an enhanced seatback interface.
Air Canada To Begin First-Ever Airbus A321XLR Flights To London In 2026
The start-of-the-art XLR is down to operate from Toronto, becoming the carrier’s first flight on the variant outside Montreal.
Air Canada & The Airbus A321XLR: The Story So Far
According to present fleet data made available by ch-aviation, Air Canada currently has a grand total of 30 examples of the Airbus A321XLR on order. This represents a slight increase from the 26 units that the Canadian flag carrier initially committed to back in March of 2022. Just under four years later, in February of 2026, the first of these aircraft took its maiden test flight (in Hamburg, ironically enough), as detailed in the video below.
Given the type’s transatlantic capabilities as far as its range is concerned, there has been a lot of interest in the kinds of routes that Air Canada will be deploying its Airbus A321XLR fleet on. According to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, it will be deployed domestically at first, from Montréal to Calgary (68 flights in 2026), Toronto (one), and Vancouver (two), before spreading its wings internationally to destinations in Europe and the US.
