This week, Airbus’ A220 turns five years old since the frame officially became known as the Airbus A220 after its CSeries naming.
This article will cover the details surrounding the Airbus A220 turning five years old and its growth within the Airbus family.
Airbus A220: Five Years Old
The Airbus A220 officially joined the French manufacturer’s family back in July 2018 since previously being known as the Bombardier CSeries.
Since joining the Airbus family, the A220 series aircraft order book has more than doubled in size as well as its operators increasing more than five times its previous outlook at Bombardier.
Coinciding with the A220’s exponential growth, Airbus opened a new final assembly line in the U.S. in Mobile, Alabama back in 2020 as well as a sub-assembly line at the programme’s headquarters in Mirabel, Quebec in Canada which was brought in only last year during 2022.
These additional assembly lines now see Airbus producing at a maximum capacity of 14 aircraft per month as we head towards 2025.
Since its introduction, there are now over 260 A220s in active service that have since travelled more than one billion kilometres carrying more than 90 million passengers on over 1,100 routes across 375 destinations worldwide.
The Airbus A220 offers 50% lower NOx emissions than the industry standards, and with an order backlog for around 800 more to be built and delivered, the frame is going to be around for many years to come.
As part of Airbus’ pledge to continue to lower its emissions, the A220 is already capable of flying on a 50% blend of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), however, by 2030 the aircraft is expected to be certified for the ability to fly on 100% SAF.
Overall
Bringing the CSeries into the Airbus family has seen the aircraft spearhead into the targets of its competitor aircraft, certainly firming itself as one of the best-selling single-aisle airliners out there.
It is for certain that with an existing backlog of 800 aircraft that are still to be built and delivered, let alone additional orders potentially being added to that, the A220 family will be around for many years to come, proving to be one of the most efficient single-aisle aircraft in the skies.
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