The A321neo's development was announced by Airbus in 2010, 16 years after the introduction of the original
A321ceo. The first flight of the Airbus A321neo took place in Hamburg. The prototype, registered D-AVXB and equipped with CFM International LEAP-1A engines, was flown by test pilots Martin Scheuermann and Bernardo Saez Benito Hernandez. The flight lasted 29 minutes, and performed various tests during that time.
AerCap was the first customer to order the aircraft on 27 April 2011, with
IndiGo being the first
airline to order the aircraft, on 22 June 2011, ordering 304 of the type. The first A321neo entered commercial service with
Virgin America in May 2017, who merged with
Alaska Airlines in 2018; the latter also acquired all of Virgin's aircraft. It received its type certification with Pratt & Whitney engines on 15 December 2016, and simultaneous certification from the
European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the CFM LEAP-powered variant on 1 March 2017. The first A321neo, leased by
GECAS, was delivered in Hamburg to Virgin America, configured with 185 seats and LEAP engines, and entered service on 31 May 2017.
Delivery delays ' A321neos were delivered late. As Pratt & Whitney encountered early reliability issues with the PW1100G, retrofitting fixes affected the deliveries.