The Airbus A220 is easily one of the most competitive airliners currently in production.
As one of the only clean-sheet narrowbody airliners developed in the past decade or so,
it’s no surprise that the type continues to bring in orders,
especially after the program’s acquisition from Bombardier.
Even with the current success of the program,
some airlines see even more potential with the airplane,
in the form of a further stretched version, which would likely be called the A220-500.
The two A220 models currently on offer are meant to seat 100 to 120 passengers
in the case of the -100 models, or 120 to 150 for the -300 models.
This A220-500 stretch could add another 6 rows of seats, putting it squarely in
A320 and 737 territory. The resulting airplane could have a potential capacity of up to 200
passengers in a high density layout, or around 160-180 in a normal 2-class configuration.
Now, as an already established customer of this Canadian-designed and built airplane, with over 25
in the fleet at this point, could there be some potential for an A220-500 with Air Canada?
Well, first off, I do want to preface this by saying, this is an argument for an… entirely
theoretical airplane at this point, so this video is very much speculation on my part.
Nevertheless, in Air Canada’s case, they’ve equipped their A220-300s with 12 seats in Business
Class and 125 in Economy for a total capacity of 137. If an A220-500 stretch adds another 6
rows compared to the -300, and if we assume Air Canada adds another row of Business and maybe
4-5 more rows of economy, that leaves them with an airplane carrying roughly 160 passengers.
The issue there of course, is that Air Canada kind of already has a plane in that segment,
the 737 MAX 8. Those planes, of which Air Canada now has over 30,
seat 169 passengers, with 16 in Business, and 153 in Economy.
Now, the immediate reaction if you’re some YouTube commenters may be to say,
well that’s great, you can replace the MAXs and cancel the rest of that order, but
that’s just not quite how things work in the airline industry.
Adding a new airplane type to an airline’s fleet is an incredibly complex process. Air Canada has
undoubtedly made significant investments in the MAX already, in not only purchasing the aircraft,
but also investments in training and network planning that relied on the MAX.
This isn’t the type of decision that an airline would take lightly, unless you’re Qatar Airways.
Plus, there’s one advantage that the MAX 8 has,
and that’s it’s slightly longer range than the A220-300. For Air Canada,
that enables them to use the MAX on some transatlantic flights from the east coast,
and some transpacific flights from Calgary and Vancouver to Hawaii. Even then, according to
Airbus and Boeing, the difference in range on paper is just a few hundred kilometres worth.
That said, if Air Canada were to expand their narrowbody fleet at some point in the future,
an A220-500 might be worth considering.
As is usually the case with stretched models, an A220-500 might have a slightly shorter range
than the -300. So, Air Canada could use these A220-500s on shorter, higher-demand routes,
and free up some MAXs to use on some more niche long-haul flights.
That would also leave some A220-300s to explore some new routes within North America
that might’ve been unlikely ones in the past, like Montreal to Kelowna last summer.
Of course, this is all assuming that Airbus will develop an A220-500 to begin with.
That said, according to Leeham News, Bombardier had previously designed a CS500 stretch
before Airbus took over the program, and this design is theoretically ready to go.
Also, in October of last year, Airbus’ Chief Commercial Officer confirmed to AirlineRatings.com
that it wasn’t a question of if a stretched A220 would succeed the A320 family, but when.
For Air Canada though, the fact that the MAX is already well established in the fleet
and that more are continuing to be delivered month after month,
means that an Air Canada A220-500 might be a bit of a pipe dream.
Then again, this is the aviation industry we’re talking about,
where things seem to be constantly changing day by day.
Maybe Air Canada will see some potential for a stretched A220 sometime in the future.
So, an A220-500, when built, will be a force to be reckoned with,
and the development of this so-called spiritual successor to the A320 will be one to watch.
Thank you very much for watching, and I’ll see you next time!