Airbus opens up new routes for A220 with extended range

Airbus has announced that the A220 single-aisle aircraft will offer increased range starting in 2020, opening up new routes between continents.

The added range could tap into new routes that were not possible before, connecting key cities in Western Europe with the Middle East, or from Southeast Asia to Australia.

The A220 aircraft maximum take-off weight (MTOW) is now confirmed to increase by 2,268kg. The new MTOW will increase the respective maximum range capabilities to 3,350nm for the A220-300 and 3,400nm for the A220-100, some 450nm more than currently advertised.

Christian Scherer, chief commercial officer, Airbus, commented: “In true Airbus tradition we improve our products constantly. This new MTOW will allow operators to reach markets which today cannot be served by other small single-aisle aircraft types.”

“Since its entry-into-service close to three years ago, the A220 aircraft has already proven that it is meeting or beating its initial performance targets, bringing more flexibility and revenue potential to customers,” said Rob Dewar, head of engineering & customer support for the A220. “Today, Airbus is reinforcing its confidence in the A220 platform and further enhancing its capabilities to meet upcoming market requirements.”

This performance increase is achieved by taking credit of existing structural and systems margins as well as existing fuel volume capacity.

The A220 has been purpose built for efficiency. It brings together state-of-the-art aerodynamics, advanced materials and Pratt & Whitney’s latest-generation PW1500G geared turbofan engines to offer at least 20% lower fuel burn per seat compared to previous generation aircraft.

With an order book of over 530 aircraft to date, the A220 has the potential to win the majority share of the 100- to 150-seat aircraft market, estimated to represent 7,000 aircraft over the next 20 years.