Airbus A321

Meet the Airbus A321, the backbone of Dragon Airways' all-Airbus fleet. With 42 examples in the fleet (40 ceos and two neos) in addition to a further 28 on order, the A321 series serves nearly all routes that the Hong Kong carrier plies. From Mumbai to Haneda to Qingdao, if you're flying on a Dragon flight it's highly likely that it'll be on an A321.

The Hong Kong-based airline first took delivery of an Airbus A321 in 2007 as a part of its brand re-imaging plan. Following a massive shift in consumer demand following the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and the financial crises of the late 2000s, the A321 led Dragon Airways' expansion and assisted in making a tired, lumbering behemoth of a company into a trendy and dynamic airline representative of Hong Kong. The mid-sized Airbus was able to provide much-needed flexibility, a significant advantage that Dragon was able to gain over its competitors with hundreds of widebody airframes.

In 2018, the airline rejoined the India market after a hiatus in the country spanning over two decades, initially offering flights to Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. This was accompanied by the introduction of lie-flat Business Class seating on the narrowbody A321, being the first airline to do so in Asia. This new configuration, dubbed the 21L,
was a hit with passengers on Dragon Airways' longest and most premium routes and has made the carrier highly competitive in the South Asian market.