Which airline became the first operator of the Airbus A321 in 1994?

Lufthansa became the first operator of the Airbus A321 in 1994.

The A321 is the longest-fuselage member of Airbus’s original A320 family. It was developed as a stretched successor to the A320, adding capacity while retaining the family’s common cockpit and fly-by-wire operating philosophy. Lufthansa introduced the aircraft to scheduled passenger service after receiving the first production examples.

The A321 is often confused with the A320 because the two aircraft share many systems and have similar external features. The important distinction is fuselage length: the A321 accommodates more passengers and has a larger maximum takeoff weight than the A320. Later versions, including the A321LR and A321XLR, extended the type’s range substantially.

Lufthansa’s role was as launch operator, not the first airline to order every A321 variant. The original A321 and its later long-range derivatives entered service in different eras and should not be treated as the same configuration.