Airbus Unveils New A220 Family at a Ceremony in Toulouse, France

European aerospace giant Airbus has revealed the new A220 at a ceremony held at its Henri-Ziegler Delivery Centre, near Toulouse, France.

Witnessed by Airbus employees and members of the global media, the A220-300 landed directly from the painting in the early hours of Tuesday, wearing its new Airbus name and colours.

The A220 family comprises two models, the A220-100 and A220-300, formerly Canada-headquartered Bombardier’s C Series (CS100 and CS300). The aircraft are fully optimised for the 100 to 150-seat market and perfectly complement Airbus’ existing best-selling A320neo family.

It was in October last year that Airbus had announced that it was taking control of Bombardier’s C Series airliner programme, in a bid to dodge competition with American rival Boeing, which last week announced a tentative deal to take over the commercial unit of Brazil’s Embraer.

Global media had reported late last year that under the aforementioned agreement, Airbus would acquire 50.01% of the C Series programme.

“Everyone at Airbus has been looking forward to this historic moment. Today, we are thrilled to welcome the A220 to the Airbus family and are honoured to see it wearing its new Airbus colours for the first time,” said Airbus President (Commercial Aircraft) Guillaume Faury.”