The Bombardier C-Series becomes the Airbus A220
With the takeover of the Canadian Bombardier CSeries, Airbus can now offer two new aircraft models in the lower seating segment. The smaller A220-100, formerly CS100, with 100 to 135 seats and the larger version, A220-300 (formerly CS300) with up to 150 seats.
Connoisseur Circle was exclusively present in Toulouse when the newest member of the family was unveiled at the Airbus delivery center. A few hours later, a new major order was placed by the US airline JetBlue, which wants to buy 60 A220s.
After all, Airbus has ambitious plans for the renamed aircraft program. Until its takeover by Airbus, the CSeries program had only achieved 402 orders, even though the aircraft had exceeded all requirements in terms of comfort and economy. The weak order situation was partly due to the fact that the CSeries was making Bombardier heavy losses, causing potential customers to question the future of the program. With Airbus now as the main pillar, this should now change. The European company wants to give the regional aircraft new momentum with a new name and the combined strength of its sales team.
"We are happy and proud to welcome this product to our family," says Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. "To make it a success, we need to sell it now." A220 Sales Director David Dufrenois now wants to obtain orders for at least 100 units this year alone. Airbus estimates the demand for aircraft models such as the A220 at around 6,000 units over the next 20 years. Airbus wants to book at least half of these for itself.
Swiss International Air Lines is currently the largest operator of the A220, with 23 A220-100 and A220-300 aircraft in operation and plans to expand this fleet by 2019. In addition, airBlatic from Riga has a rapidly growing A220-300 fleet in operation. Korean Air Lines has also commenced operations with A220-300s.
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