Airbus reached a new milestone this week by delivering the 220th unit of the A220 while taking a traditional European customer away from Embraer.
Airbus celebrates a new milestone for the A220
The biggest plane maker in the world celebrated this week the 220th delivery of the A220, six years after its entry into service. The aircraft, an A220-300 registered N3112J, was delivered to JetBlue on July 5. The airline is the largest A220 customer with 100 orders, and already operates 10 units of the type.
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According to Airbus, in the six years that the A220 family has been in service, more than 60 million passengers have flown on this model on more than 700 routes. On the future of the model, which already totals more than 700 orders in the backlog -it has doubled since 2018- Airbus said it is expanding capacity to try to cope with demand.
The European manufacturer enlarged the final assembly line (FAL) in Mirabel, Canada, by adding a pre-assembly line. This made it its largest FAL outside Europe. According to Airbus, this expansion will double the current A220 production rates to 14 aircraft per month by mid-decade.
Embraer loses one of its largest customers in Europe
LOT Polish Airlines is reportedly close to ordering up to 60 Airbus A220s to replace its Embraer E-Jets. According to Bloomberg, the Polish airline and the manufacturer are said to be «advanced» in negotiations, and a deal could be announced at next week’s Farnborough International Airshow. The market value of sixty A220s is around $2.1 billion.
This deal is surprising, as LOT has historically been a Boeing and Embraer customer: the airline currently operates 38 units of the E-Jet family, between 170/175 and 190/195 versions. In addition, it has eleven 737-family aircraft between NG and MAX variants.
