Air Canada has signed for five additional Airbus A220-300s on top of an already-sizeable order of incoming single-aisle jets.
Airbus confirmed on 20 December the Montreal-based carrier’s latest A220 order, placed on the five-year anniversary of Air Canada taking delivery of its first of the type in December 2019. It became the North American launch operator of the A220 early in 2020.
Air Canada initially ordered 45 A220s in 2016, followed by an additional 15 jets in October 2022.
Including its latest five-unit order, Air Canada has ordered a total of 65 A220s. The carrier’s website says that it now has 34 of the type in operation.
“The A220 has delivered on its promises for Air Canada in its five years in service,” says John Di Bert, Air Canada’s chief financial officer. ”It has allowed us to open new routes and better serve existing routes with an aircraft that has the right economics to support our profitable growth strategy.”
Capable of carrying up to 150 passengers on stages as long as 3,600nm (6,700km), the A220 has flown to more than 70 cities in Air Canada’s network.
Originally developed as Bombardier’s CSeries, the A220 eventually became an Airbus platform with the Toulouse-based airframer taking a majority stake in the programme and Bombardier withdrawing from the commercial jet market.
The jets are produced at Airbus’ facility in Mirabel, Quebec, near Air Canada’s Montreal headquarters.
As of 30 November, Airbus had received nearly 900 A220 orders and delivered some 380.
Though operators say the aircraft have largely delivered on their promise of efficient operations and strong economics, the A220 is powered exclusively by Pratt & Whitney’s PW1500G engines – geared turbofans that have struggled to deliver reliable on-wing performance.
P&W is working through an ongoing recall of GTF engines that need inspections and potential repairs, a process that has for many months kept hundreds of Airbus jets on the ground.
Air Canada also holds an order for 26 A321XLRs, a long-range variant of the A321neo.