A321 Neo: CAT C or Cat D?

[pineteam]

Hello everyone,

In our fleet with have A321 CEO some are category C (MLW 75.5T) and some are category D ( MLW 77.8T).
from what I undestand the aircraft category will depend of your Vs1G* 1.23 during approach at MLW.
Now we also have A321 NEO with a max landing weight of 79.2T. According to our FOM, they are considered Cat D aircraft. But a friend of mine in another airline, the A321 NEO is still a CAT C aircraft. As if you you do the landing performance even at MLW of 79.2T the A321 NEO will have a much lower VAPP than an A321 CEO at MLW of 75.5T in config full as by aircraft design the A321 NEO has more flaps extension in config full compare to other A321. In the other hand flaps 3 are exactly the same and therefore it’s not unusual to see a a 10-12 kt difference between VAPP in conf 3 versus conf full on A321 Neo while one the CEO it’s usually around 5/7kt only. VAPP conf 3 on 321 neo while heavy is above 151kt.

My questions are: The category of aircraft assumes config full only? As the A321 NEO is definitely a CAT C with flaps full but not in Flaps 3. I’m wondering if in your outfit you will apply cat D minima if you decide to fly Conf 3 in an heavy 321 as it’s definitely falls in the Cat D Aircraft.
I don’t undestand how come an airline can consider the A321 Neo cat C aircraft unless they always use flaps full landing.

Thank you.