Airbus announced that it has produced its 100th A220 aircraft, celebrating the achievement with a ceremony at its A220 program headquarters in Mirabel, Canada, last Friday. The aircraft, an A220-300, is slated to go to Latvia-based airline airBaltic. AirBaltic took delivery of its first A220-300 in November 2016 and currently operates a fleet of 20 of the aircraft.
“In an extremely competitive market, the aircraft’s unequalled fuel efficiency and excellent performance has been instrumental to airBaltic, which has an all-A220 fleet as the backbone of its new business plan,” said Airbus. “The A220 brings together state-of-the-art aerodynamics, advanced materials and Pratt & Whitney’s latest-generation PW1500G geared turbofan engines to offer at least 20% lower fuel burn per seat compared to previous-generation aircraft, along with significantly lower emissions and a reduced noise footprint.”
The Airbus A220 family, formerly the Bombardier C Series, includes the A220-100 and A220-300, which were designed for the 100- to 150-seat airline market. The A220 models are assembled at the company’s Mirabel facility and at a second assembly line in Mobile, Alabama. According to Airbus, it had received 530 firm orders for the A220 by the end of October 2019.
Congratulations.
Somebody at Boeing should regret suing Bombardier, instead of buying them. The CS at the bottom end, plus a (no-MCAS) 757 replacement in the middle, would have made a ton of 20-year sense. The MAX was supposed to have been a time-buying cash cow. Expediency has consequences. Magic is elusive. Reputation is hard won; easily lost.