It's beginning to look as if the Airbus A220, formerly Bombardier C-Series has found its groove with a spate of recent orders, including one announced yesterday for start-up airline Moxy, a new project of JetBlue founder David Neeleman.
The plane, with seating in the range of 100 to 150 seats fills a gap in the market, and Moxy aims to use it to fill another, flying 'thin' routes among major U.S. cities that have fallen out of the major airlines' hub systems, connecting cities that would otherwise require a change in planes at a hub.
Neeleman is no stranger to finding niches; his first startup, Morris Air, became part of Southwest; he was among the founders of Canada's WestJet, and after leaving JetBlue, he started Brazil's Azul Airlines ten years ago. He's also an owner of TAP Air Portugal, which offers some intriguing link-up possibilities with his other present and former ventures.
The A220 got off to a difficult start with Bombardier, running into delays and financial issues, and was threatened with U.S. tariff issues before Airbus stepped in to take control of the program. As well, numbers of airlines that were interested in the well-reviewed plane appeared to hold off because of uncertainty about future support.
It appears that Airbus's bet on the plane is now paying off in sales, with well over 100 orders in the past few days, and strong interest from large aircraft leasing companies, which buy and supply to airline operators. And, with oil prices rising again, it may give Airbus a strong fuel-efficient successor to the aging A319.
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