It has now been more than eight years since the Airbus A220 entered commercial service with SWISS in July 2016. Back then, it was known as the Bombardier CSeries, but the type has had its current moniker since 2018 after the European planemaker bought into the program. To date, almost 400 have been delivered.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, as a key player in the world of commercial aviation, the US is an important market for the A220, and three of the country's airlines currently fly the type, with both the larger A220-100 and smaller A220-300 variants represented.
Data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that 16,283 A220 flights will fly to and from US airports next month, but which carriers have the most?
Delta Air Lines
Of the more than 16,000 Airbus A220 flights scheduled to serve US airports this December, more than 41% are set to be operated by Delta Air Lines.
All in all, the Atlanta-headquartered US legacy carrier and SkyTeam founding member is set to operate 6,697 sectors with the next-generation narrowbody twinjet next month, offering grand totals of 798,160 seats and 775,653,356 available seat miles (ASMs).
According to current fleet data made available by ch-aviation, Delta Air Lines presently has 45 examples of the A220-100 model in its fleet, alongside 28 A220-300s (with outstanding orders for another 72).
Despite its preference for the A220, the split between the two variants when it comes to the number of flights scheduled to be operated this December is actually relatively even, as shown below.
|
Variant |
Flights |
Seats |
ASMs |
|
A220-100 |
3,450 |
376,050 |
350,642,536 |
|
A220-300 |
3,247 |
422,110 |
425,010,820 |
In terms of how Delta chooses to operate its A220s, almost all of its flights with the type next month are scheduled to be of a domestic nature.
Indeed, the only exception is the carrier's international route from New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to Nassau (NAS) in the Bahamas, which will see 13 rotations with the A220-100.
The top domestic routes for the type also depart from LaGuardia, and serve:
- Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) - 179 outbound and 180 inbound flights.
- Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) - 172 flights in each direction.
Configuration-wise, present fleet data from aeroLOPA shows that Delta uses two-class layouts on its A220s, with Domestic First in a 2-2 setup and Main Cabin (economy) in the standard 3-2 arrangement. The A220-100s have 109 seats onboard (12+97), while the A220-300s have 130 (12+118).
JetBlue
Unlike Delta Air Lines, JetBlue only operates one variant from the Airbus A220 family, namely the larger A220-300 model.
While these aircraft are fitted with an all-economy configuration (with a total of 140 seats onboard), rows one to four and 12 to 13 are designated as 'Even More Space' extra legroom seats.
JetBlue currently has 38 A220-300s in its fleet, with outstanding orders for another 62 units.
Next month, the airline is scheduled to operate 4,444 flights with the Airbus A220-300, with these services offering collective totals of 622,160 seats and 608,280,820 ASMs.
Once again, international sectors only make up a very small proportion of the carrier's planned A220 operations, with just 252 flights between Boston Logan (BOS) and New York JFK and various Caribbean destinations planned.
Interestingly, the most frequently served will be between JFK and Nassau, with JetBlue's 49 December rotations directly rivaling Delta's offering from LaGuardia.
As it happens, JFK is also the origin of the airline's top A220 routes by frequency next month, serving the likes of Buffalo (120 rotations), Tampa (115), Atlanta (113), West Palm Beach (104), Raleigh Durham (91) and Jacksonville (88).
Breeze Airways
The third and final US operator of the Airbus A220 at this moment in time is recent startup Breeze Airways, which has 32 A220-300s (and orders for 62 more) in its fleet.
These aircraft are very much considered the future of Breeze's fleet, with, as noted in our coverage below, the airline planning to phase out its Embraer E-Jets.
Breeze's A220s have 12 business class and 125 economy class seats onboard.
Unlike the two airlines already covered, the all-domestic airline will be using its Airbus A220s exclusively for internal duties next month.
It has 3,952 flights within the US scheduled with the type, offering 541,424 seats and 515,877,884 ASMs.
The busiest route will be Provo - Santa Ana, with two rotations a day, and other corridors that average more-than-daily frequencies include the likes of:
- White Plains - Vero Beach (48 flights in each direction).
- Providence - Fort Myers (35 flights in each direction).
Air Canada
Away from the three US-based carriers covered thus far, neighboring Air Canada also flies its A220-300s across the border to a selection of American destinations.
The Star Alliance founding member's examples split their 137 seats in the same way as those flown by Breeze Airways, and it currently has 33 units in its fleet.
Going forward, another 27 A220-300s are expected to be delivered to Air Canada.
This December, Air Canada is scheduled to operate 1,190 flights to and from US destinations with the Airbus A220-300, offering 163,030 seats and 165,941,387 ASMs.
By far its most frequently served cross-border corridor is the route from Toronto (YYZ) and Chicago (ORD), with 110 rotations.
This is followed by Toronto to New York LaGuardia (78), with Denver and Houston served twice daily from Toronto.
