Page 14 - Flight International (January 2020)

AIR TRANSPORT
Stealthy 5GAT has
ambitious targets
Defence P16

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

ne year ago, Airbus execu-
Otives 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 Air Canada received its first Air Canada
major airlines have signed signifi- -300 in December 2019
cant sales agreements.
However, the degree to which “We are on the normal path of Balducchi now says the air- ed significant new orders – the
the airframer has achieved cost an aircraft programme at this framer aims to reduce the A220’s types of sales Bombardier so badly
and profitability goals remains stage,” he says. costs by 20%, but declines to dis- needed. The Airbus-led deals
unclear. But Airbus Canada chief In January 2019, six months close more details or say whether include: 60 A220-300s to Air
executive Philippe Balducchi in- after Airbus acquired the A220 the A220 is closer to profitability. France-KLM, 70 A220-300s to Jet-
sists the A220 programme is pro- programme from Bombardier, Bal- “We have been progressing on Blue Airways, and 60 jets to former
gressing as expected. ducchi set out his A220 goals at a the cost reduction. We have had JetBlue founder David Neeleman’s
“The journey to get the cost media event in Montreal. significant progress with some US start-up, known as Moxy.
down has started [and] is on [a] He pledged to make the A220 suppliers. Some are still under
good track,” Balducchi said at a profitable and said his team had discussion,” Balducchi says. LEASE DEALS
15 January event in Montreal initiated a broad cost-cutting effort Financials aside, the A220 pro- Balducchi also notes that Airbus
during which Air Canada un- that included seeking concessions gramme has gained momentum has secured A220 commitments
veiled its first A220-300. He adds from suppliers. The team would under Airbus. Since acquiring the from major aircraft lessors Air
that Airbus expects to achieve also work to improve production programme, then called the Lease Corporation and Nordic
more cost reductions “in the efficiency, partly by adopting Air- CSeries, from a struggling Bombar- Aviation Capital.
coming months and year”. bus’s processes on the A220. dier in mid-2018, Airbus has land- At the time it was acquired by
Airbus, the programme had
logged some 406 orders, which
by the end of 2019 had risen by
INTRODUCTION
Carrier heralds arrival of aircraft that ‘almost did not make it’ 47% to 595 aircraft.
Airbus has made progress
Air Canada revealed its first new markets. It will allow us to makes transatlantic passenger boosting production, having de-
Airbus A220-300 to reporters and expand our already extensive flights possible. But, due to op- livered 48 A220s in 2019. By com-
business partners on 15 January, North American network and erational limitations, Air Canada parison, the Montreal site shipped
the day before it placed the support our global strategy.” has no intention of seeking the 33 A220s in 2018 and 17 in 2017.
Quebec-made twinjet into Air Canada operated its first extended twin-engine operations Airbus also opened a second
revenue service. revenue A220 flight on 16 January approvals needed for such A220 assembly line in Mobile,
Executives described the between Montreal and Calgary. flights, Galardo says. Alabama, in 2018, which will de-
A220’s introduction as a victory In total, the carrier has ordered Weight restrictions on transat- liver its first aircraft this year.
for Canadian industry, noting that 45 A220-300s, equipped with 137 lantic and transpacific flights Balducchi declines to say how
the Montreal-based airline is the seats in a two-class layout. It will would significantly limit passen- many A220s Airbus expects to
first carrier in the country to use them partly to replace 14 ger counts – perhaps to as few as produce in 2020, but notes that by
acquire the small narrowbody. Embraer 190s scheduled for 40 – effectively making transoce- mid-decade it expects to build 14
They also insist the A220 will divestiture by year-end. anic A220 flights a “luxury niche” per month: 10 in Montreal and
help transform Air Canada’s Powered by Pratt & Whitney product, he says. four in Mobile.
network by driving down costs PW1500G geared turbofans, the Rovinescu calls the A220 “a Balducchi insists supply chain
and enabling it to launch A220-300s will burn 20% less fuel product of innovation, of risk, of issues are no longer stifling Air-
previously untenable routes. per seat than the E190s, says Air disrupting the market, of staying bus’s ability to get A220s off the
“The arrival of a new aircraft is Canada vice-president of power” – a nod to the many strug- assembly line. “Right now we are
always a major event for an air- network planning Mark Galardo. gles, financial and legal, that the following a normal, pretty aggres-
line… The A220, especially so,” “This aircraft fits Air Canada’s original manufacturer Bombardier sive ramp-up,” Balducchi says.
says Air Canada chief executive needs almost perfectly,” he says. faced when developing the twin- “There is nothing holding us
Calin Rovinescu. “The capacity The A220-300’s 3,350nm jet. “The aircraft programme al- back… It is a normal part of ma-
and range of the A220 will open (6,200km) range theoretically most did not make it,” he says. ■ turing [the] industrial system.” ■

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