Airbus has celebrated the 100th A220 aircraft produced for a customer at a ceremony at the aircraft programme’s headquarters in Mirabel, Canada.
The A220-300 was destined to join the Latvian airline airBaltic’s fleet, featuring a new cabin layout with 149 seats and a modernised livery.
The first A220 (formerly known as the C Series) was delivered in June 2016 to A220-100 launch operator SWISS while airBaltic became the A220-300 launch operator when it received delivery of the aircraft in November 2016.
Since then airBaltic has re-ordered the A220-300 aircraft twice – bringing its firm order to 50 aircraft to become the current biggest European A220 customer. The airline now operates a fleet of 20 A220-300 aircraft.
As well as being the 100th A220 aircraft produced, the aircraft was airBaltic’s 21st of the type and marked the next phase of the airline’s fleet modernisation plan and the first delivery of the additional order signed in 2018 for 30 of the type, and an additional 30.
By the end of 2019, airBaltic plans to have 22 Airbus A220-300 aircraft in its fleets, but anticipates this will rise to 26 by the end of 2020. Aiming to minimise complexity, the airline aims to have a fleet of all-A220-300s by the end of 2022.
To emphasise the airline’s sustainable commitments, all of the company’s new aircraft from now on will have greener tails.
“We are truly proud to be the launch operator of the Airbus A220-300 aircraft which, being an integral part of airBaltic’s fleet over the last three years has demonstrated an outstanding performance,” commented Martin Gauss, chief executive officer of airBaltic. “The vision of an all-Airbus A220 fleet by 2023 is the backbone of airBaltic’s Destination 2025 business plan and the celebration of our 21st A220-300 aircraft from the newest order marks another step towards the set aim.”
So far, airBaltic has carried over 4,000,000 passengers on the Airbus A220-300 aircraft.
