Having taken a majority stake in the ailing Bombardier C Series last month, Airbus has revealed that the original Bombardier CS100 and CS300 have been respectively renamed the Airbus A220-100 and A220-300.
The new name was announced on Tuesday this week at the Henri-Ziegler Delivery Centre in Toulouse, France with an A220-300 landing directly on its delivery from the paint shop and sporting its new Airbus livery.
The A220 family is closely aligned to the Airbus A320neo family and is fully optimized for the highly competitive 100- to 150-seat sector of the market.
Guillaume Faury, Airbus President Commercial Aircraft said: “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 honored to see it wearing its new Airbus colors for the first time. I pay tribute to all the women and men at Bombardier and the supply chain who have strived over the past years to bring this fantastic aircraft to the world. The A220 now enters a new phase in its career with all Airbus’ resources behind it to further its commercial success worldwide.”
Under the C Series joint venture between Airbus and Bombardier, the aircraft partnership’s head office and main assembly line will be located in Mirabel, Quebec. Airbus anticipates commencing production of the aircraft for the U.S. market at a new plant in Mobile, Alabama, in 2019, with deliveries commencing in 2020.
