The Airbus A220 program is represented at the Paris Air Show by a JetBlue A220-300.
LE BOURGET—Airbus will have completed “very advanced studies” on the long-planned stretched version of the A220 by the end of the year, according to Airbus Canada CEO Benoît Schultz.
Airbus has been studying the possibility of a larger A220 variant for some years, an option planned by the program’s former owner Bombardier from the start but has not yet made a decision to formally launch it. Key customers such as Air Canada, Delta Air Lines and Air France have upped the pressure on Airbus to finally go ahead with the project.
The stretch would provide them with a new generation aircraft seating around 180 passengers, roughly the same size as the A320neo or the Boeing 737-8.
“I am in favor of the stretch,” Schultz makes clear on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show. To meet market demand, the aircraft should enter service no later than “slightly after 2030.” He is “more and more convinced” that it can add value to airlines.
However, some key questions remain to be answered. The most important one is whether or not an engine with a higher capability is needed. Airbus has not yet come to a conclusion, Schultz says.
The A220-100 and -300 are powered by the Pratt & Whitney PW1500G engine. But Airbus could add a second engine manufacturer to the program as part of the stretch project, according to Schultz.
Airbus markets the A220-300 as having a range of 3,400 nm. One of the discussion points with its airline customers has been to what extent that range needs to be retained by a larger version. Some airlines, including Air France and Delta, have been pressing Airbus to make minimal changes as they do not need the range. Schultz says that no major change beyond possibly a higher-thrust engine is anticipated. The wing, in particular, will retain the same size, but could be retwisted for aerodynamic optimization.
A potential launch of the program will not happen under Schultz’ leadership: he has been named head of Airbus procurement effective Oct. 1, replacing Jürgen Westermeier, who will instead run Airbus’ India operations.
As an interim step, Airbus is moving ahead with the 160-seat version of the A220-300, another project anticipated early on by Bombardier for what was then called the C Series. The high-density version of the -300 has 11 more seats than the current maximum (149) and will be available from 2027. Competitor program the Embraer E195-E2 has a maximum of 146 seats.
According to Schultz, two airlines are interested in the aircraft. One of them is believed to be AirAsia, though Airbus does not disclose the identity of the carriers.
For the 160-seat version, an evacuation test has to be demonstrated, and Airbus needs to finalize an industrial concept for the variant, which features a second overwing emergency exit and two additional rows of seats. Schultz expects other changes to the aircraft, such as rerouted wiring, as being manageable with no major difficulty.
Meanwhile, Airbus Canada is in the middle of ramping up A220 production to 14 aircraft per month by 2026, close to the maximum capacity of its current industrial system spread across the Mirabel, Canada, and Mobile, Alabama, sites.
According to Schultz, the two Mirabel final assembly lines can deliver a combined 10 aircraft per month, while Mobile can go up to four or five. Airbus is making “final adjustments” to the end of the lines so that throughput is fully synchronized and has already opened a new delivery center in Mirabel that helps with the flow by adding more positions.
Pratt is now “meeting expectations” as far as engine deliveries are concerned. Engine availability has not been a constraint since last summer, the CEO says.
However, aerostructures are “still in a difficult situation” as Spirit Aerosystems is struggling to keep pace with the ramp up. The supplier is producing the A220 wings, mid-fuselage section and pylons. While Airbus has sent teams to the various Spirit sites to help, one issue that is not yet fully transparent to the airframer is the status of Spirit’s own supply chain. Airbus has agreed to take over Spirit’s Airbus work and expects the transaction to close in the third quarter.
The A220 wings are produced in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in a single source setup. For the mid-fuselage, Airbus has a second source, AVIC SAC Commercial Aircraft in Shenyang, China. While Shenyang has been a cause for worry in the past, Schultz says it is “performing extremely well now.” Even though Airbus is taking aerostructures work in-house in general as part of a strategic reset, SAC will retain the A220 work.
Airbus only delivered 29 A220s in the first five months of the year, an average of just under six aircraft per month. Rates are measured by reaching certain production gates rather than by the number of deliveries.
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