The Airbus A220 or formerly known as the Bombardier C-Series is a short to medium-haul aircraft. The first flight took place on September 13th, 2013. As you can see it’s a very young aircraft and is therefore packed with new and eco-friendly technology.
Examples of this are its highly efficient engines, the Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1500G, which were only developed for the type.
Besides that it also features are a very modern cabin with ambient lighting and incomparably big windows. The cockpit also consists of huge screens, which got very positive feedback from the pilots.
There are 3 models of the A220: The A220-100 and the A220-300, as well as the A220ACJ (Airbus Corporate Jet), which is still in development though.
The A220-100 is currently the only aircraft on the market build for a capacity of 110 to 160 passengers, with the closest being the Embraer E195-E2. Both A220 types have a similar range to the A320 while being more efficient.
All operators of the A220 have been very positive about the type so far, and AirBaltic, the airline from Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, even operates an A220 only fleet, while having operated the B737 and the Q400.
So why is the A220 the aircraft of the future?
First, there is efficiency as I already mentioned. The A220 helps airlines significantly with lowering their carbon emissions, and also produces way less cerosin cost and environmental taxes.
Then there is the capacity: At least the A220-100 serves an unrivaled market, which, especially after the CoVid-19 crisis, will help the airlines to maintain a profit on routes, that wouldn’t be profitable with bigger aircraft.
The third reason is the cabin: The cabin receives nearly every time positive feedback, due to the lighting, the huge windows, that are unrivaled in this market segment, the modern bathrooms as well as the massive overhead bins, that are also unrivaled. After all, there were regular reports, that the A220 cabin doesn’t even feel like a short to medium-haul aircraft, because it’s so spacious and comfortable. The seat configuration is a 2-3 configuration and the seats are comfortable, even on longer flights.
Pilots also love the cockpit: The cockpit uses huge screens which make it easier for the pilots, and the plane also uses fly-by-wire.
Speaking of those, the A220 also serves longer routes, for example from Riga to Abu Dhabi, which is a solid 5-6 hour flight. There is also a big potential for transcontinental routes in North America, from or to smaller airports. This was also noticed by David Neeleman, the founder of huge and successful airlines like Azul Linhas Aereas, JetBlue, and WestJet, who aims to have an A220 only fleet for his new startup airline, Breeze Airways. With it, he also plans to operate flights from and to Sao Paulo, and South America in general.
Operators:
The A220 collected many orders, compared to its very young age. In total it achieved 658 orders from all over the world.
Examples are:
- Air France
- Delta
- Swiss
- Air Baltic
- JetBlue
- Korean Air
- Air Tanzania
- Czech Airlines
- Air Canada
Besides that Southwest is also interested and looking into it.
This shows that the A220 is also a reasonable option for customers, who don’t have an A220 or Airbus fleet in general, especially in these times, where new structuring even brings benefits, as the Boeing Ceo stated: “This is that moment where rationalization efforts get big,” he said. “And believe it or not, in some cases, it even requires that maybe new airplanes [be] ordered.”
Concluding I say, that the A220 is a plane with a bright future and huge potential, and will help to restore and help the environment.
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