At an NBAA-BACE shy on new business aircraft announcements, Airbus has introduced a new class of business aircraft. The company has dubbed the corporate version of its A220 airliner the ‘Xtra Large Bizjet and it’s displaying the aircraft at the event for the first time. Airbus says the plane, which is an adaptation of its popular 100- to 150-seat single-aisle airliner, offers almost as much range but twice the space of ultra-long-range bizjets at the same price.
“The ACJ TwoTwenty is set to become a game-changer in the business aviation market,” said Sean McGeough, VP Commercial ACJ for North America. “It offers a unique combination of unmatched cabin space, intercontinental range, state-of-the-art amenities, and competitive pricing.” Ironically, Bombardier, builder of many of the big bizjets with which the ACJ TwoTwenty competes, designed and certified the A220, which was known as the CSeries until Airbus bailed it out of near bankruptcy five years ago.
The ACJ TwoTwenty can stay in the air for 12 hours and cover 5,650 nautical miles compared to the 7,700-NM range of the likes of the Bombardier Global 7500 and 7,500 NM for the Gulfstream 650. But it also offers a 728-square-foot cabin with a king size bed and bathroom with a shower. Airbus claims its jet has lower operating and maintenance costs than the competition despite its size.
I don’t get how Bombardier didn’t think of throwing in a “non-compete on the bizjet market” clause when they ceded the CSeries to Airbus, since it’s now become their core business. Their bad, I guess.
It’s Bombardier. Here in Québec it’s pretty normal for them to do tragically stupid things then get bailed out by the government over and over again.
But yeah, it’s a great point nonetheless.
Maybe they should also fix the issue where it will ‘crazy Ivan’ sometimes when intercepting a localizer