It seems after a short delay, Delta Air Lines first Airbus A220 (nee Bombardier C Series) has completed its first test flight.
Delta A220 taxing – Image, Airbus
Delta A220 in flight – Images, Delta
The Airbus A220 completed a test sortie from the Bombardier final assembly and test facility at Montreal Mirabel Airport. The flight lasted for 2 hour and 53 minutes flight where the crew checked the aircraft’s main systems.
The plane landed back in Mirabel at 16:55 local time.
With the plane exiting the paint shop a couple of weeks ago, the first flight wasn’t going to be far away. The aircraft will ll continue with pre-delivery testing and assembly as well as the installation of the interior at the Mirabel assembly line.
The aircraft will continue its pre-delivery testing. with entry in to service being targeted for early 2019.
Delta will be the launch customer of the Airbus A220 in the USA, and will join Swiss International Air Lines, airBaltic, and Korean Air as operators of the type.
With the push forward – and plans to integrate an A220 assembly line in Mobile AL, it seems the C Series Partnership (made up of Airbus, Bombardier and Investissement Québec) is moving ahead with the work on the backlog of the type (numbering 400 in total).
And hoping that this display may convience a few other airlines to take another look at the A220.
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Is it silly that I still think of this as a “C Series”?
(I still think of a 717 as a MD-95 and shudder any time I hear a MD-80 referred to as a “Boeing”, so it could just be me.)
Regardless of what you call it, it’s a really good looking plane!
You don’t honestly know how many times I had to self-correct the article typing in CSeries for A220.
But this is a plane (and with Airbus’s selling methods) that needs a lot more exposure. It has a lot of promise.