AirAsia Places Largest Ever Airbus A220 Order

Malaysia-based airline group AirAsia has handed the Airbus A220 programme one of its biggest victories yet, placing a landmark order for 150 A220-300 aircraft in a deal that pushes total firm orders for the type beyond the 1,000-aircraft mark.

Announced at Airbus’ Mirabel facility in Canada on 6 May, the agreement represents the largest single firm order ever placed for the A220 and makes AirAsia a new customer for the type. The deal was signed in the presence of AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes and Airbus Commercial Aircraft CEO Lars Wagner.

For aviation enthusiasts, the order is significant on several levels. Not only does it secure a major future for the A220 programme, but it also signals a notable shift in AirAsia’s fleet strategy. Long associated almost exclusively with the Airbus A320 family, AirAsia now plans to use the smaller A220-300 to open thinner regional routes across ASEAN and Central Asia while freeing larger A320-family aircraft for higher-capacity and longer-range services.

The order also makes AirAsia the launch customer for a new 160-seat high-density cabin configuration on the A220-300. Airbus says this increase in seating capacity has been made possible through the addition of an extra overwing exit on each side of the aircraft.

Originally developed by Bombardier as the CSeries before Airbus took control of the programme in 2018, the A220 has steadily built a reputation among airlines and passengers alike for its quiet cabin, fuel efficiency, and strong economics on shorter and medium-haul routes. The larger A220-300 variant can typically seat between 120 and 160 passengers and has a range of around 3,400 nautical miles, making it ideal for many of the routes AirAsia is expected to target.

VishuN, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The order is especially important for Airbus because the A220 programme has faced growing competition in recent years from Embraer’s E2 family and continuing questions about profitability. Airbus has been working to increase production rates and improve programme economics at its Mirabel and Mobile assembly lines. Analysts see the AirAsia deal as a major boost in confidence for the aircraft’s long-term future.

For plane spotters, the arrival of large numbers of AirAsia A220s across Southeast Asia could provide an exciting new addition to the region’s skies in the years ahead. AirAsia already operates one of the world’s largest Airbus narrowbody fleets, and the distinctive smaller A220 will likely become a familiar sight at airports throughout Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and beyond.

The deal also underlines Airbus’ continuing dominance within AirAsia’s fleet planning. The group already has hundreds of A320-family aircraft on order, and the addition of the A220 creates one of the most significant all-Airbus narrowbody fleets anywhere in the world.