The Airbus A220 has become one of the more important products within the European manufacturer’s portfolio despite the company having nothing to do with the initial development of the aircraft.
After all, the aircraft family, comprised of the A220-100 and A220-300, was previously owned by Bombardier, known as the CSeries CS100 and CSeries CS300. Built with the help of the Government of Quebec, the aircraft program was eventually sold to Airbus, which obtained a 75% stake in the A220, with the remaining 25% being owned by the Canadian province’s government.
Photo: StockPhotosLV | Shutterstock
The reason? Boeing’s allegations that the government subsidized the development of the program enabled Delta Air Lines to purchase CSeries aircraft at extremely low prices. The airline ordered 75 CSeries CS100 aircraft, including 50 options, in April 2016.
As a result, the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) imposed a 219.63% tariff on each CSeries aircraft imported to the US in September 2017, a hint as to why Airbus named the Canadian aircraft program the A220, as well as an 80% anti-dumping duty, totaling import taxes of around 300%.
While eventually the US International Trade Commission (ITC) reversed the decision, concluding that the aircraft had not harmed Boeing or the US aviation industry, the damage had been done and Bombardier’s mounting debts forced the Canadian plane maker to fully sell the program to Airbus in 2020.
Since then, airlines have taken delivery of 344 A220-100 and A220-300 aircraft, including three testbeds, registered as C-GWXJ, C-GWYD, and C-FFDK. 19 different airlines currently have A220s in their fleets, including seven unassigned airframes, per ch-aviation:
| Airline | Number of A220-100s | Number of A220-300s | Total A220 fleet |
| Air Austral | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Air Canada | 0 | 33 | 33 |
| Air France | 0 | 36 | 36 |
| Air Manas | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Air Tanzania | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| airBaltic | 0 | 47 | 47 |
| Breeze Airways | 0 | 25 | 25 |
| Bulgaria Air | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Cobham Aviation Services Australia | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Cyprus Airways | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Delta Air Lines | 45 | 26 | 71 |
| EgyptAir | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| Ibom Air | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Iraqi Airways | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| ITA Airways | 7 | 9 | 16 |
| JetBlue | 0 | 33 | 33 |
| Korean Air | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) | 9 | 31 | 40 |
| Unassigned/no operator | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| Total | 63 | 281 | 344 |
The largest number of weekly flights with the A220
Meanwhile, data from the aviation analytics company Cirium showed that a total of 16 airlines have scheduled flights with the type. Some carriers, such as Air Manas, EgyptAir, or Ibom Air, have either retired their A220s or just recently welcomed their first aircraft of the type.
Nevertheless, airBaltic, Delta Air Lines, Air France, JetBlue, and SWISS have the largest number of weekly departures with the type. In total, the 16 carriers have scheduled 8,653 weekly departures with the A220 in July.
| Airline | Number of weekly departures (July 2024) | Market share of total weekly flights (% of 8,653) |
| airBaltic | 1,651 | 19% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,516 | 17.5% |
| Air France | 950 | 10.9% |
| JetBlue | 918 | 10.6% |
| SWISS | 900 | 10.4% |
However, the situation changes when looking at the weekly flights that are marketed by airlines, meaning that some carriers could wet lease aircraft from other A220 operators. A prime example of this was airBaltic, which has, on multiple occasions, stated the importance of wet lease flights for its financial stability.
As such, Delta Air Lines is the largest airline in terms of weekly A220 departures. While none of them are operated by other carriers, SWISS is the second-largest airline with 1,296 weekly departures only due to the fact that airBaltic operates 30.5% of those flights or 396 weekly itineraries.
The following two airlines, namely Air France and JetBlue, remain the same, yet airBaltic has dropped down to fifth place, with 881 weekly departures with the type that it markets itself. In addition to SWISS, airBaltic operates flights with the A220 on behalf of Eurowings and Lufthansa, two other Lufthansa Group airlines.
Growing Airbus A220 fleets
Some of these operators will continue growing the number of A220 aircraft they operate. According to Airbus orders and deliveries file as of June 30, there are 34 gross orders remaining for the A220-100, while airlines have booked 526 gross orders for the larger type, namely the A220-300.
This included would-be operators, such as Croatia Airlines, which is planning to become an all-A220 operator, similar to the aforementioned Latvian carrier airBaltic, which has already completed the transition.
Airbus has also planned to ramp up the production of the aircraft program, with the manufacturer envisioning a future when it would build 14 aircraft per month.
Photo: GingChen | Shutterstock
While it has solved the labor dispute it had with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), which represented workers at its Mirabel, Quebec, Canada, site, supply chain issues might derail those plans.
In June, the European plane maker admitted that it has been facing supply chain problems, which derailed its plans to deliver around 800 aircraft in 2024. Now, Airbus plans to end the year with 770 deliveries, which will also impact its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and free cash flow (FCF) before customer financing guidance for the year.
Source: Simple Flying
