The Air Current

Airbus advances A220-500 strategy around transcon and possible second engine

Two engine options from Pratt & Whitney and CFM may be the new standard for Airbus' smallest jet family.

Sign up to receive updates on our latest scoops, insight and analysis on the business of flying.

Purchase a PDF copy of this article

Airbus has broadly solidified its desire to see a third member of the A220 family with the transcontinental range of today’s largest model, as it seeks engine proposals from not only incumbent Pratt & Whitney, but also CFM International.

Airbus’s Chief Commercial Officer, Christian Scherer in an interview with The Air Current detailed the company’s maturing thinking around the A220-500. His comments are the first public discussion around adding a second engine supplier for not just a newly stretched model, but for the existing A220-100 and A220-300 originally spawned by Bombardier before the program was acquired by Airbus in 2018.

Related: Focus is on its factory, but A220-500 on Airbus’s agenda

Scherer called the A220-300’s 3,550nm range “the sweetspot” while pondering the performance of the stretched A220. “I’m happy to see that both engine manufacturers — Pratt and CFM — have acknowledged that requirement,” said Scherer.

Subscribe to continue reading...

Log-in here if you’re already a subscriber

Aircraft Development
  • Share:

Jon Ostrower is Editor-in-chief of The Air Current. Prior to launching TAC in June 2018, Ostrower served as Aviation Editor for CNN Worldwide, guiding the network's global coverage of the business and operations of flying. Ostrower joined CNN in 2016 following four and half years at the Wall Street Journal. Based first in Chicago and then in Washington, D.C. he covered Boeing, aviation safety and the business of global aerospace. Before that, Ostrower was editor of the award-winning FlightBlogger for Flightglobal and Flight International Magazine covering the development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and other new aircraft programs from 2007 to 2012. Ostrower, a Boston native, graduated from The George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs with a bachelor's degree in Political Communication. He is based in Seattle.

Supply Chain

The financial crisis brewing in the supply chain underneath the world’s airlines

  • Jon Ostrower
Analysis

Premium economy’s surprising pandemic rebound

  • Courtney Miller
Aircraft Development

Boeing preps 777X for slip deep into 2024, as it triages 787 & 737 Max 10

  • Jon Ostrower
Next Post
Industry Strategy

Rolls-Royce CEO says Pratt & Whitney spin-off ‘might’ guide rekindled collaboration

Sign up to receive updates on our latest scoops, insight and analysis on the business...
error: Content is protected !!