The Airbus A220 is set to become an even more familiar sight in North America after two large provisional agreements for A220s from customers there were converted into irm orders. JetBlue Airways and a start-up carrier, codenamed ‘Moxy’, have each conirmed their initial mid-2018 contracts for 60 examples of the A220-300 variant.
These combined 120 aircraft join several other orders from major operators in North America for the A220 (formerly the Bombardier C Series): Delta Air Lines’ 90 examples (40 A220-100s and 50 A220-300s), Air Canada’s 45 A220-300s and Republic Airways’ 45 A220-300s.
The combined total of 300 orders for the A220 from North American operators means carriers in the region accounted for 55% of the total number of A220s on irm order (537 aircraft) by early January, meaning the region will be a key centre of operations for the new type.
JetBlue will use A220s to replace Embraer E190s. A leet plan from the airline shows it expects ive deliveries in 2020, followed by four in 2021, eight in 2022, 19 in 2023, 22 in 2024 and two in 2025. The start-up ‘Moxy’ is a new airline venture led by David Neeleman, the founder of JetBlue Airways and Azul Brazilian Airlines and the controlling investor in TAP Air Portugal.
Airbus will produce the A220s for JetBlue and the start-up at a new assembly facility in Mobile adjacent to the A320 Final Assembly Line already at the Alabama plant. Mark Broadbent
