Flight_International 28Jan2020

AIR TRANSPORT

flightglobal.com 28 January-3 February 2020 | Flight International | 15

Stealthy 5GAT has

ambitious targets

Defence P

O

ne year ago, Airbus execu-

tives in Canada laid out

broad strokes of a plan to make

the A220 a commercial success.

Chief among the company’s

goals: to boost A220 production,

land sales with major airlines,

reduce costs and, ultimately,

make the aircraft profitable.

Twelve months on, the pro-

duction rate is up and several

major airlines have signed signifi-

cant sales agreements.

However, the degree to which

the airframer has achieved cost

and profitability goals remains

unclear. But Airbus Canada chief

executive Philippe Balducchi in-

sists the A220 programme is pro-

gressing as expected.

“The journey to get the cost

down has started [and] is on [a]

good track,” Balducchi said at a

15 January event in Montreal

during which Air Canada un-

veiled its first A220-300. He adds

that Airbus expects to achieve

more cost reductions “in the

coming months and year”.

“We are on the normal path of

an aircraft programme at this

stage,” he says.

In January 2019, six months

after Airbus acquired the A

programme from Bombardier, Bal-

ducchi set out his A220 goals at a

media event in Montreal.

He pledged to make the A

profitable and said his team had

initiated a broad cost-cutting effort

that included seeking concessions

from suppliers. The team would

also work to improve production

efficiency, partly by adopting Air-

bus’s processes on the A220.

Balducchi now says the air-

framer aims to reduce the A220’s

costs by 20%, but declines to dis-

close more details or say whether

the A220 is closer to profitability.

“We have been progressing on

the cost reduction. We have had

significant progress with some

suppliers. Some are still under

discussion,” Balducchi says.

Financials aside, the A220 pro-

gramme has gained momentum

under Airbus. Since acquiring the

programme, then called the

CSeries, from a struggling Bombar-

dier in mid-2018, Airbus has land-

PROGRAMME JON HEMMERDINGER MONTREAL

A220 gains lift under new ownership

Airbus flags sales successes since adopting narrowbody as efforts towards cutting cost and boosting output continue

INTRODUCTION

Carrier heralds arrival of aircraft that ‘almost did not make it’

Air Canada revealed its first

Airbus A220-300 to reporters and

business partners on 15 January,

the day before it placed the

Quebec-made twinjet into

revenue service.

Executives described the

A220’s introduction as a victory

for Canadian industry, noting that

the Montreal-based airline is the

first carrier in the country to

acquire the small narrowbody.

They also insist the A220 will

help transform Air Canada’s

network by driving down costs

and enabling it to launch

previously untenable routes.

“The arrival of a new aircraft is

always a major event for an air-

line... The A220, especially so,”

says Air Canada chief executive

Calin Rovinescu. “The capacity

and range of the A220 will open

new markets. It will allow us to

expand our already extensive

North American network and

support our global strategy.”

Air Canada operated its first

revenue A220 flight on 16 January

between Montreal and Calgary.

In total, the carrier has ordered

45 A220-300s, equipped with 137

seats in a two-class layout. It will

use them partly to replace 14

Embraer 190s scheduled for

divestiture by year-end.

Powered by Pratt & Whitney

PW1500G geared turbofans, the

A220-300s will burn 20% less fuel

per seat than the E190s, says Air

Canada vice-president of

network planning Mark Galardo.

“This aircraft fits Air Canada’s

needs almost perfectly,” he says.

The A220-300’s 3,350nm

(6,200km) range theoretically

makes transatlantic passenger

flights possible. But, due to op-

erational limitations, Air Canada

has no intention of seeking the

extended twin-engine operations

approvals needed for such

flights, Galardo says.

Weight restrictions on transat-

lantic and transpacific flights

would significantly limit passen-

ger counts – perhaps to as few as

40 – effectively making transoce-

anic A220 flights a “luxury niche”

product, he says.

Rovinescu calls the A220 “a

product of innovation, of risk, of

disrupting the market, of staying

power” – a nod to the many strug-

gles, financial and legal, that the

original manufacturer Bombardier

faced when developing the twin-

jet. “The aircraft programme al-

most did not make it,” he says. ■

Air Canada

Air Canada received its first

-300 in December 2019

ed significant new orders – the

types of sales Bombardier so badly

needed. The Airbus-led deals

include: 60 A220-300s to Air

France-KLM, 70 A220-300s to Jet-

Blue Airways, and 60 jets to former

JetBlue founder David Neeleman’s

US start-up, known as Moxy.

LEASE DEALS

Balducchi also notes that Airbus

has secured A220 commitments

from major aircraft lessors Air

Lease Corporation and Nordic

Aviation Capital.

At the time it was acquired by

Airbus, the programme had

logged some 406 orders, which

by the end of 2019 had risen by

47% to 595 aircraft.

Airbus has made progress

boosting production, having de-

livered 48 A220s in 2019. By com-

parison, the Montreal site shipped

33 A220s in 2018 and 17 in 2017.

Airbus also opened a second

A220 assembly line in Mobile,

Alabama, in 2018, which will de-

liver its first aircraft this year.

Balducchi declines to say how

many A220s Airbus expects to

produce in 2020, but notes that by

mid-decade it expects to build 14

per month: 10 in Montreal and

four in Mobile.

Balducchi insists supply chain

issues are no longer stifling Air-

bus’s ability to get A220s off the

assembly line. “Right now we are

following a normal, pretty aggres-

sive ramp-up,” Balducchi says.

“There is nothing holding us

back... It is a normal part of ma-

turing [the] industrial system.” ■