Air Canada unveils first Airbus A220
DORVAL, Que. — Air Canada unveiled its first Airbus A220 jetliner on Wednesday, one of an eventual 45 it hopes will expand its grip on the North American market.
The narrow-body aircraft, whose maiden voyage took off for Calgary from Montreal on Thursday, provides greater range and cost savings for Canada’s largest airline as it tries to shore up profit margins amid the ongoing grounding of the Boeing 737 Max.
The 137-seat A220 offers 20% more fuel efficiency than some Boeing 737 and Airbus jets, and will begin to replace planes like the Embraer E190 with 97 seats, said Craig Landry, Air Canada’s head of operations.
The order sports a list price of US$3.8 billion and makes Air Canada the second North American carrier to fly the A220, after Atlantabased Delta Air Lines Inc.
The plane was called the C Series before Bombardier Inc. gave up a controlling stake in the aircraft program in 2018 to Europe-based Airbus SE, which christened it the A220.
The airliners will be built at what are now Airbus Canada’s facilities north of Montreal in Mirabel, Que., churning out 10 A220s per month at full production. Airbus also produces the planes at a new site in Mobile, Ala., mainly for U.S. customers.
Air Canada’s next two A220 deliveries are slated to run routes starting in May between Montreal and Seattle and between Toronto and San Jose, Calif., as it looks to build its presence in the U.S. and Canada while pushing back against rival WestJet Airlines Ltd.’s inroads in international markets.
Air Canada was slated to have 36 Max 8s by the end of 2019 — onequarter of its narrow-body fleet — with 14 more initially scheduled to arrive this year. The worldwide grounding of the Max last March following two deadly crashes within five months sent the company scrambling as it cancelled routes, made last-minute plane leases and absorbed higher fuel costs.