It’s been a big day for Airbus, with the AirAsia Group signing for 150 Airbus A220-300 aircraft.
The purchase agreement is the largest single firm order placed for the A220 and propels the programme beyond the 1,000 firm order milestone. The agreement covers 150 aircraft, with the strategic flexibility to upsize the commitment to 300 of the A220 Aircraft Family to meet future demand.
The purchase agreement makes AirAsia a new customer for the A220. The airline also becomes the launch customer for the aircraft’s new cabin configuration of 160 seats. The increase in capacity, adding 10 seats, is made possible by the addition of an extra overwing exit on each side of the aircraft with a 28″ seat pitch.
The A220 complements AirAsia’s existing Airbus fleet and will play a key role in advancing the Group’s network and growth. The aircraft will service destinations across ASEAN and into Central Asia, freeing up larger aircraft to fly longer routes.
For AirAsia, the A220 is a natural fit within the Group’s multi-gauge fleet. It will provide the flexibility to easily meet demand, allowing AirAsia to aggressively increase flight frequencies on existing routes, giving its passengers the convenience of multiple daily departures and better connectivity windows, supporting Fly-Thru traffic. In addition, the A220’s capacity means it can reach profitability with fewer passengers than the larger narrowbody alternatives. This opens up smaller, high-growth markets and secondary hubs that were previously commercially unviable, advancing AirAsia’s mission to make the world smaller and ensuring everyone can fly.
These aircraft will be assembled in Montreal, Canada, supporting the supply chains and growth in Canada and Quebec.
The contract was announced at a ceremony at the Airbus facility in Mirabel attended by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Chief Executive Officer of Capital A and Advisor to AirAsia Group and Lars Wagner, Chief Executive Officer Commercial Aircraft at Airbus. The event took place in the presence of the Right Honourable Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada and the Honourable Christine Frechette, Premier of Quebec.
In Quotes
Bo Lingam, Group CEO of AirAsia Group, said:
“AirAsia has spent more than two decades making the world smaller. We built Malaysia into the world’s top low-cost carrier hub, and we opened up air travel to millions of people across Asia who had never flown before. This plane gives us the ability to build the biggest and densest network, serving as a vital tool for efficiency. Its range of up to 7 hours opens up entirely new possibilities, and allows us to match right-sized capacity to demand and give our guests the flexibility to fly whenever they want through increased frequencies. We have democratised travel in Asia by opening up routes that were never feasible before, and now we are going to do it for the world.”
Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A and Advisor to AirAsia Group, added:
“In an environment of high fuel prices and volatility, the answer is not to stand still, it’s to double down on efficiency. This aircraft materially improves our fuel burn and trip costs, strengthening our resilience regardless of where the cycle goes. We never waste a crisis at AirAsia- we make bold decisions at the right moment, not the easiest moment. This order reflects our long-term discipline and the scale of our ambitions. The A220 is the perfect tool for our next phase of growth, allowing us to build the world’s first true low-cost network carrier. Beyond the airlines, this agreement strengthens the broader ecosystem we have built in Capital A, from cargo, MRO to digital businesses, and will create real jobs and opportunities in the markets we fly to. Our partnership with Airbus spans more than two decades and has been central to everything we have achieved. Today is another milestone in that journey, and there are many more to come.”
Lars Wagner, CEO of Airbus Commercial Aircraft, said:
“The A220 will provide an optimal platform for AirAsia, combining low operating costs with the latest technology to maximise productivity and also open up new routes across Asia that were not feasible before. Everyone at Airbus has been pleased to work with AirAsia to finalise this new contract, which is fully aligned with the airline’s new network strategy.”
No A220-500 announcement… yet…
There was a lot of chatter beforehand about whether we would see Airbus launch a new variant of the Airbus A220 – the A220-500.
Seemingly not, was the answer today. However, AirAsia is keeping up pressure with the programme, noting that the A220 is a highly scalable product, offering a seamless path to the future A220-500 variant to meet evolving capacity needs and successor to the aging A320s in a similar capacity range of 180+ seats, if and when it arrives.
Considering the A220 family has, in all senses, made the Airbus A319neo irrelevant (to the point that only 41 have ever been delivered, with a grand total of 57 ordered), with Airbus focusing on the larger aircraft (the A320neo selling 4,220 aircraft and the A321neo selling 7,588 aircraft), it will be interesting how an 180+ seater A220-500 would cannibalise the A320neo’s economics.
Certainly there’s pressure from airlines to move to launch the programme. It’s taken one step forward with the additional pair of emergency exit doors, allowing for the high seat counts AirAsia wants.
We’ve also seen 28″ seat densities of the Airbus A220 in demonstration form, as shown at Aircraft Interiors Expo earlier this year, promising that 160 seat yield too.
28″ seating on the A220 mockup at Aircraft Interiors Expo.
The signs are pointing ever closer to an A220-500 product launch – but I suspect there is more work to do before Airbus is prepared to unveil the industrial programme to support this launch formally, as well as the airlines who would be prepared to jump on a larger variant of the A220.
Suffice to say, there’s a lot more to come from the Airbus A220.
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