The new A220-family was introduced the other day. And before you say "did you misprint that?", let me just say that after Airbus overtake of Bombardier, they've re-branded the CS100 / CS300 into A220-100 / A220-300.




As Finnair is about to renew its narrowbody fleet, I am wondering if these A220 birds would make sense. They are 100-150 seaters and in that segment supposed to have excellent efficiency and at the same time offer much better carry-on space than Embraers (and ATR...).

I assume there is less "commonality" between A320 and A220 than the rest of Airbuses, but if replacing E190 and possibly ATR, then there still would be commonality gains.

The ≈3000nm range covers all AY could ask for, including Russia, Eastern China, Northen India, ME and so on.

There is a huge backlog of 364 frames, with only 38 deliveries so far. But Finnair is looking to renew and very likely have time to wait for later slots.

So what do you think? Is this a good fit, for say high-frequency and/or thin routes? Or, knowing that Finnair has gone for large A321 with high density cabins and basically one-class config, is A220 all wrong?

Not adding much value to the conversation here, but I personally would be extremely happy to see the Embraers go and be replaced by the A220 series...

Yeah, I am leaning towards that too. A321 in HD and increasing seats by removing cupboards and so on in existing planes speak in that direction.

Capacity can increase with a smaller plane too, if they go multiple daily though. 100 seats 2x a day is better in many cases than 1x 200 seats.

From a internet-planespotter's view I'd love to see A220. They look very nice. Maybe they could replace the whole range ATR-E90-A319, leaving only A220/320/321 in narrowbody fleet.


I am torn on E90. I always felt flying them was very smooth, but luggage can be a problem and I think "kitchen" is very limited. Of course, I am tainted by being in J, where there rarely is a seat-mate. In Y I guess it cramped even without bags.
And a "new-generation" A220 should be much better in most aspects, so I wouldn't be sad at all to see E90 replaced by A220. But if replaced by A319 I'd go "meh".

I've yet to fly the A220 (why didn't they call those planes A221 and A223?), but from what I've been reading online, they've got wide seats and lots of overhead bin space, enough for one rollaboard per pax. I would love to see AY replace the E190 with A220.

The fact that AY crams more seats in their A321s doesn't mean that they don't need smaller planes, too. As long as they aim at two flights per day to all/most Euro destinations, they will need a bunch of small planes to cover thinner destinations.

I am sure they will have those names in "shorthand" (ICAO).
They can't possibly want to keep the Bombardier code (BCS1, BCS3), but I am not sure who decides.

A325 is an Antonov though, so no CS500 with that naming convention...

Not sure if having a single plane vendor is such a good idea. And anyway, I guess Finnair is first figuring out their medium haul fleet strategy, meaning NEO or MAX, isn't it?

Considering the long lead times to actually get the planes nowadays, I'm amazed that they haven't made a decision yet on the SH fleet renewal. Of course the case with newest A321s is possible as well, that just lease them from GE for example. But to gain some advantage on the pricing they should make a bid for x amount of A220s for example vs. same they did with A350 and scored nice profits now with leasebacks.

I've flown on the A220-300 on airBaltic a few times and really like them. Way more comfortable than the E190's.

Cranky (https://crankyflier.com/2018/07/12/j...-a321-upgauge/) references JetBlue investor presentation that A223 has "25-30% lower direct costs per seat" and draws the conclusion that that flying an A223 would cost the same (in absolute amount terms) than flying an E90.
So: "If there are smaller markets where JetBlue thinks a 100-seat airplane is good today, then the -300 can fly those just as profitably as the Embraer can even with a bunch of empty seats. But if those markets can generate a little more traffic at lower fares, then that’ll all be gravy."

So hwat is this buzz about A220 now then? Anyone with experience and references how it is?

Aha, so here we have one at least. How is it? Any trip reports of any sort? Videos? Okay, youtube is my next address

Norwegian is selling 60 A320neos: https://standbynordic.com/norwegian-...-new-aircraft/ Maybe this is something for AY instead of A220?

In short: DY signed for 90 A320 and are looking to offload 60 of them, before delivery. (5 are delivered, but are leased to HK express.)
30 A320 are converted to A321LR and those might be for sale later too, if their South American bet isn't working out.

Well, as there is a huge backlog on A320 neo (6000+ orders, 400- deliveries) DYs slots might be worth something. But AY uses CEO, right? Are there any issues in mixing CEO and NEO in fleet?
And are the slots fitting the needs for AY?

As a comparison, A220 has a tiny backlog (naturally) with 400-ish orders and 39 deliveries. And there are slots for sale too, as TF (Braathens Regional) postponed their 10 orders.

Flew it on BT ~month ago. Very positive feeling. Config was 2-3 and seemingly same amount of overhead space than A320 but with obviously fewer pax there is plenty of space.