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摘要

In December, Air Canada's first Airbus A220-300 (nee the Bombardier CSeries) will arrive at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport on a delivery flight from the former Bombardier assembly plant at nearby Mirabel. One small hop for the world's most advanced narrow-body airliner, one giant leap for Air Canada's North American route network. In addition to the 2,500 people employed in Mirabel by Airbus, the airline notes the A220 includes parts from 30 Canadian suppliers. Air Canada will be the seventh customer airline to take delivery of the A220. As of August 31, 2019, Airbus had delivered 83 Canadian-built A220s, to customers including SWISS, Air Baltic (launch operators for the A220-100 and larger 300, respectively) and Delta Air Lines, which introduced the airplane into service in January. The jet is at the heart of a narrow-body revolution alongside the Boeing 737 MAX (when it returns to the skies, likely in early 2020) and Airbus A321LR (long range). Airlines are flying single-aisle jets over longer distances including the trans-Atlantic (Air Transat recently announced A321LR service between Montreal and Copenhagen for 2020), looking to finally crack the DNA code for operating jets profitably in the tough 100-passenger market (a sector where the earlier Airbus A318 has struggled) and insert a more comfortable mainline cabin into the short-haul sector. The versatile A220 checks off the boxes of all three.