Airbus extending A220 range

Airbus announced that the A220 series of jetliners will be offering increased range starting in the second haalf of 2020. It will allow the A220 to reach markets that today can not 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 and 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 of some 450 nautical miles is achieved by taking credit of existing structural and systems margins as well as existing fuel volume capacity. This will allow airlines to 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. There are more than 530 planes in the order book, and the 100- to 150-seat market is estimate to represent 7,000 aircraft over the next 20 years. (Source: Airbus, 05/21/19) Airbus, which builds the former Bombardier CSeries passenger jets in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada, is building a second A220 assembly line in Mobile, Ala.