BRJ-X forerunner concept Bombardier began discussions with
Fokker on 5 February 1996 about acquiring that company's assets, including the 100-seat
Fokker 100 short-haul aircraft. However, after evaluating the potential purchase, Bombardier announced an end to the talks on 27 February, and two weeks later, on 15 March, Fokker was declared bankrupt. Bombardier then launched the
BRJ-X, or "Bombardier Regional Jet eXpansion" on 8 September, a larger regional jet than the
CRJ Series or "Canadair Regional Jet" due to enter service in 2003. Instead of 2–2 seating, the BRJ-X was to have a wider
fuselage with 2–3 seating for 85 to 110 passengers, and underwing
engine pods. Meanwhile,
Embraer launched its four-abreast
E-Jet family for 70 to 122 passengers in June 1999, which entered service in 2004. Airbus launched its 107–117 passengers
A318 on 21 April 1999, which entered service in July 2003, as Boeing had the
737-600 first delivered in September 1998.
CSeries feasibility study Bombardier appointed Gary Scott on 8 March 2004 to evaluate the creation of a New Commercial Aircraft Program. A feasibility study for a five-seat abreast
CSeries was then launched at the biennial
Farnborough Airshow in July to investigate development of an aircraft to replace rival manufacturers'
aging models: DC-9/MD-80, Fokker 100,
Boeing 737 Classic and
BAe-146 with 20% lower operating costs, and 15% lower operating costs than
then-in-production models: Embraer E-Jet, Boeing 717, etc. The smaller variant (
C110) should carry 110 to 115 passengers and the larger (
C130) between 130 and 135 passengers over 3,200 nautical miles. The C110 was planned to weigh at
MTOW and have a length of , while the C130 should be long and have a MTOW. The aircraft would have 3-by-2 standard seating and 4-abreast business class, stand-up headroom,
fly-by-wire and side stick controls. 20 percent of the airframe weight would be in
composite materials for the centre and rear fuselages, tail cone, empennage and wings. The first flight was planned for 2008 and entry into service for 2010. The UK contribution is part of an investment partnership for the location of the development of the composite wings and other parts at the
Belfast plant, where Bombardier bought
Short Brothers in 1989.
Search for engines and one-year development break engine from
Pratt & Whitney in late 2007. Despite government support, Bombardier had difficulty finding the right
powerplant for the CSeries in June 2005 after failing to get the two engine consortia
International Aero Engines and
CFM International to compete for the CSeries contract. The former engine manufacturer had offered a new centreline engine in the thrust class, while the latter was not yet ready to offer its next-generation
CFM56 engine, Bombardier announced on 31 January 2006 that market conditions could not justify the launch of the program, and that the company would reorient CSeries project efforts, team and resources to
regional jet and
turboprop aircraft. A small team of employees were kept to develop the CSeries business plan and were further tasked to include other risk-sharing partners in the program. Bombardier announced on 31 January 2007 that work on the aircraft would continue, with entry into service planned for 2013. In November 2007, Bombardier finally selected the P&W
Geared Turbofan (GTF), now the
PW1500G, already selected to power the
Mitsubishi Regional Jet, to be the exclusive powerplant for the CSeries, rated at .
Program launch and type redesignation with the
C110 and
C130 variants, which were redesignated
CS100 and
CS300 in 2009. Bombardier's Board of Directors authorized offering formal sales proposals of the CSeries to airline customers on 22 February 2008, due to its 20% lower fuel burn and up to 15% better operating costs compared to similarly sized aircraft produced at the time. This interested
Lufthansa,
Qatar Airways and
ILFC. In a press conference on the eve of the opening of the Farnborough Airshow on 13 July, Bombardier Aerospace formally launched the CSeries, with a
letter of interest from Lufthansa for 60 aircraft, including 30 options, at a US$46.7 million list price. The
aircraft fuel efficiency would be per passenger in a dense seating. Bombardier estimated the market for the 100- to 150-seat segment at 6,300 aircraft over twenty years, representing more than $250 billion in revenue, with the company expected to generate up to half of that. Bombardier redesignated the C110 and C130 as
CS100 and
CS300, respectively in March 2009. The models were offered in standard- and extended-range (ER) variants; and additionally, an extra thrust (XT) variant of the CS300 was also offered. Bombardier subsequently settled on a single variant, with the ER becoming the new standard. The centre fuselage was to be built by
China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC)'s affiliate
Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. In March 2009, Bombardier confirmed major suppliers:
Alenia Aeronautica for the composite horizontal and vertical stabilisers,
Fokker Elmo for the wiring and interconnection systems and
Goodrich Corporation Actuation Systems: design and production of the flap and slat actuation systems. By June 2009, 96% of billable materials had been allocated, with the company settling on various companies for remaining components and systems:
Rockwell Collins for the avionics,
Zodiac Aerospace for the interiors,
Parker Hannifin for the fully integrated fuel and hydraulics systems,
Liebherr-Aerospace for the air management system, and it was also anticipated that wireless
In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) might be feasible when the CSeries entered service. By November, the first wing had been assembled at the Bombardier Aerostructures and Engineering Services (BAES) site in
Belfast, Northern Ireland. In the same month, construction of a composite wing manufacturing facility at the Belfast site started and the first flight of the CSeries was expected by 2012. In 2010,
Ghafari Associates was retained to develop the Montreal manufacturing site to accommodate the aircraft production.
Test preparation and high-density concept was a potential customer for the high-density CS300 proposed at the 2012 Farnborough Airshow. Bombardier was about to reach the design freeze for the CSeries in January 2010 and announced that CS100 deliveries were planned to start in 2013, and CS300 deliveries would follow a year later. In November 2011, Bombardier expected a second-half 2012 first flight as it wasn't to receive the first fuselage package until mid-2012 at the earliest and Pratt & Whitney still had "a little bit more work to do" to meet the requirement. In June 2012, Bombardier reaffirmed the first flight should happen before the year's end with subsequent entry into service remaining 2013. In July 2012, Bombardier began discussions with
AirAsia at the Farnborough Airshow about a 160-seat
high-density CS300 concept, which was subsequently added to the CSeries program in November, despite the
low cost airline's refusal to order 100 units of this version. In the same month, Bombardier announced a six-month delay in both the first flight to June 2013 and the entry into service (EIS) of the CS100 a year later due to unspecified supplier issues in some areas of the program. The first FTV's electrical system was powered up in March, while tests on the static airframe proceeded satisfactorily and on schedule. In June, Bombardier again delayed the first flight into July on account of software upgrades and final ground testing. On 24 July, after a protracted system integration process, the first flight was delayed into "the coming weeks". On 30 August, Bombardier received the flight test permit from
Transport Canada, granting permission to perform high speed taxi testing and flight testing.
Flight testing & program delays from
Mirabel Airport in
Quebec on 16 September 2013. The CS100 (FTV1) took off for its
maiden flight from Bombardier's facility at
Montréal–Mirabel International Airport in
Quebec on 16 September 2013. After reconfiguration and software upgrades, FTV1 flew for the second time on 1 October. The FTV2 completed its first flight on 3 January 2014, while the planned entry-into-service date was delayed into the second half of 2015 due to certification testing issues. On 29 May 2014, the FTV1 suffered an
uncontained engine failure and flight testing of the four FTVs was subsequently suspended until an investigation could be completed. The incident kept Bombardier from displaying the CSeries at one of the most important aerospace events in that year, Farnborough Airshow. On 7 September, flight testing was resumed after the engine problem had been isolated to a fault in the lubrication system. On 18 September, Bombardier relocated the FTV4 to
Wichita,
Kansas (USA) joined FTV3 at the
Bombardier Flight Test Center to take advantage of better weather for flight testing. seven days after the four tested FTVs had accumulated over 1,000 flight hours. The flight test results surpassed the company's guarantees for noise, economics and performance, meaning a longer range than advertised could be possible. The fifth CS100 (FTV5) with a complete interior made its first flight on 18 March, while the sixth CS100 (not officially designated as FTV6) was the first production unit used for function and reliability flights. At the
Paris Air Show in June, Bombardier released updated performance data, showing improvements over the initial specifications. The CS100 passed the required certification tests by mid-November. On 25 November, Bombardier completed the first phase of its route proving capabilities, with a 100% dispatch reliability. The final prototype, FTV8, the second CS300 with a complete interior, made its first flight on 3 March 2016.
Type certification The smallest model in the series, the 110- to 125-seat CS100, received
type certificate from
Transport Canada on 18 December 2015, and simultaneously from US
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and
European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in June 2016, clearing the way for delivery to the launch operator,
Swiss International Air Lines. The largest model, the 130- to 145-seat CS300, obtained its type certificate from Transport Canada on 11 July 2016, from the EASA on 7 October that cleared the delivery to its launch operator
airBaltic, and from the FAA on 14 December 2016. Both models were awarded a common
type rating on 23 November 2016 simultaneously from Transport Canada and EASA, allowing pilots to qualify on both types interchangeably. Bombardier conducted steep 5.5˚ approach landings tests at
London City Airport (LCY) in March 2017, and announced one month later, April 2017, that the CS100 received
Transport Canada and
EASA steep approach certification.
Entry into service was the launch operator for the CSeries with the first CS100 in July 2016. The first CSeries, a CS100, was delivered to
Swiss Global Air Lines on 29 June 2016 at
Montréal–Mirabel International Airport, and began commercial service on 15 July with a flight between
Zürich and
Paris. The launch operator stated in August, that "the customer feedback is very positive with the expected remarks concerning the bright cabin, reduced noise, enough leg room and space for hand luggage as well as the comfortable seats. Also, the feedback from our pilots is gratifying. They especially like the intuitive flying experience." was the CS300 launch operator in December 2016.|alt=airBaltic became the second operator of the CSeries with the first CS300 in December 2016.|left The first CS300 was delivered to second CSeries operator
AirBaltic on 28 November, and began revenue service on 14 December with a flight from
Riga to
Amsterdam in a two-class, 145-seat configuration. Upon introduction, both variants were performing above their original specifications, with airBaltic reporting that the CS300
range was 2% better, as were its per seat and per
trip cost, On long missions, the CS100 was up to 1% more
fuel efficient than the brochure and the CS300 up to 3%. Furthermore, the CS300 was designed to be lighter than the
Airbus A319neo and nearly lighter than the
Boeing 737 MAX 7, giving it an operating cost advantage of up to 12%. on 8 August 2017. After 28,000 engine hours in 14 in-service aircraft with a dispatch reliability of 99.9%, Swiss replaced an engine pair in May 2017 after 2,400 hours, while airBaltic replaced another one in June. As of September, the CSeries fleet had undergone 20
A Checks with no significant maintenance issues, Thirty-five minute
turnarounds allowed 11 legs per day. and completed its first revenue flight from
Seoul to
Ulsan on 20 January 2018.
A220 rebranding The aircraft was rebranded A220 as a family name (formerly
CSeries) with A220-100/300 (formerly
CS100/CS300) as variant name on 10 July 2018, following the
Airbus partnership ten days earlier. Financial issues at Bombardier due to the CSeries programme and production delays, stiff competition, and ultimately a dumping petition by Boeing, paved the way for the partnership. In August 2014, Bombardier changed the programme's management and slashed its workforce. In 2015, in exchange for help in the final development stages of the "overdue and over-budget" aircraft, Bombardier offered to sell a
controlling stake in the CSeries programme to Airbus but had to look for alternatives after Airbus confirmed in October that it had turned down the offer. Just days prior, the
Government of Quebec reiterated its willingness to provide Bombardier with financial aid, if it were requested. On 29 October, Bombardier took a write-down on the CSeries. The
Trudeau government indicated that it would reply to Bombardier's request for $350 million in assistance after it took power in early November. On the same day, the Quebec government invested in the company to save the struggling programme. In early November, a
Scotiabank report indicated that the company and the programme would probably need a second
bailout, and that even then the CSeries would probably not make money. When Transport Canada granted type certification for the CS100 in December 2015, CSeries' total development costs, including the aforementioned write-offs, were $5.4 billion. Bombardier reportedly requested a aid package from the Canadian Government in April 2016. The Government then offered an aid package without divulging the amount or conditions imposed. In July, Bombardier set up the
C Series Aircraft Limited Partnership (CSALP) together with
Investissement Québec. The Government finally announced in February 2017 a package of in interest-free loans for the company, with the programme to receive one-third.
Delays in aircraft production In 2016, Bombardier achieved its goal of delivering seven CSeries aircraft to both launch operators,
Swiss and
airBaltic. However, the CSeries delivery goal for 2017 had to be revised to 20–22 aircraft only, due to persistent engine delivery delays, and finally, only 17 deliveries were completed in the year. By the time the
Airbus partnership came into effect on 1 July 2018, a total of 37 CSeries had been delivered, up to half of that (157 units) would be delivered by the company itself. Boeing also reportedly gave United a massive 73% discount on the 737 deal, dropping the price to $22 million per unit, well below the CS300 market value at $36 million. David Tyerman, an analyst with
Canaccord Genuity said to the
Toronto Star: "This just shows how difficult it is for Bombardier to win orders these days.[...]. It also raises the question of how profitable the next C Series order they win will be for them." The CSeries also competed with the smaller variants of the
A320 family aircraft. The 2010 order for 40 CS300s and 40 options from
Republic Airways Holdings then owner of exclusive A319/320 operator
Frontier Airlinesalso pushed Airbus into the
A320neo re-engine. Airbus
CCO John Leahy considered that Boeing indirectly forced the CSeries programme into Airbus hands by pressing the U.S. administration for massive tariffs on the aircraft. Bombardier CEO predicted that the partnership would significantly accelerate sales as it would bring certainty to the CSeries programme through Airbus's global scale.
AirInsight estimated that Airbus's corporate strength would increase the CSeries share of the 100- to 150-seat aircraft market over 20 years, from 40% of 5,636 aircraft (2,254 sales) to 55–60%, around 3,010 aircraft. Airbus would retain Bombardier as a strategic partner beyond the period required in the clauses, allowing it to acquire Investissement Québec's stake no earlier than 2023 and Bombardier's stake no earlier than 2025, but with main production remaining in
Mirabel, Québec until at least 2041. The partnership was subject to regulatory approvals, and during
competition investigation, Airbus and Bombardier were to operate separately and
clean teams planned the
integration with privileged access to competitively sensitive data but separated from their management.
Embraer assured at the
Dubai Airshow in November 2017 that its base country
Brazil would sue
Canada for its subsidies to Bombardier through the
World Trade Organization, Previously, in October 2017, Boeing was reportedly concerned over its ability to match fleet
package deals enabled by the partnership. in what aviation industry analysts said was a reaction to the partnership. The
Boeing–Embraer joint venture was announced in February 2019, but before the antitrust investigations were completed, the deal was unilaterally terminated by Boeing in April 2020 due to
impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on aviation. The antitrust investigation was due to be completed ahead of Farnborough Airshow 2018 to allow for a marketing boost, and it was planned to rebrand the CSeries as an Airbus model, with A200 suggested as a family name and A210/A230 for the CS100 and CS300. On 8 June, following regulatory approval, the partnership confirmed that Airbus would take a majority stake on 1 July. Bombardier would fund any required
cash shortfalls up to US$ million from the second half of 2018 to 2021. Ten days after programme control was transferred to Airbus, the aircraft was rebranded with A220 as the family name (formerly CSeries) and A220-100/300 for the former CS100/CS300 variants. Later, on 1 June 2019, the CSALP joint venture was renamed
Airbus Canada Limited Partnership (ACLP) and adopted the Airbus logo as its sole visual identity. The A220 became the only Airbus commercial aircraft programme managed outside of Europe, making Canada Airbus's largest presence other than Europe.
Bombardier exit participation After reassessing its participation in January 2020, Bombardier exited the A220 programme in February 2020, selling its share to Airbus for $591 million, when the programme's cost had reached
US$7 billion. Airbus thus owned 75% of the programme; the remaining 25% of shares were held by
Investissement Québec. Under the acquisition terms Airbus acquired Bombardier's option to buy out Investissement Québec's share from 2023, with a revised option date of 2026. Airbus also agreed to acquire A220 and A330 work package production capabilities from Bombardier in
Saint-Laurent, to be taken through the Airbus subsidiary,
Stelia Aerospace. Airbus and the government of Quebec agreed in February 2022 to invest a further $1.2b in Airbus Canada, to support the acceleration of the A220 production rate to 14 A220s per month. In addition, 2030 had been set as the new earliest date for Airbus to acquire the remaining shares, Under the latest agreement in July 2024 the threshold for Airbus to buy out Québec's share will be further extended to 2035, securing that two-thirds of the jobs linked to the production of the A220 will remain in Quebec. Meanwhile, the A220 held a market share of over 55% in its category and
PwC estimated the aircraft programme will have an economic impact in Canada of more than $40 billion over the next 20 years.
Production The
Airbus partnership in July 2018 decided to keep the primary final assembly line (FAL) in Mirabel, Quebec, with its 2,200
workforce. Airbus CFO predicted a production potential of more than 100 A220 per year. The company targeted over 100 orders of A220 in 2018 and 3,000 over 20 years, half of the 100- to 150-seat market, and needed a supply chain cost reduction over 10%. It then sought to reduce costs from all suppliers, including Bombardier, wing builder
Short Brothers and engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, and had reportedly pushed its suppliers to lower their prices by 20% for more volume, or to switch them, towards 150 yearly deliveries. As of January 2019, the A220 suppliers were Liebherr for the
landing gear, air management system and pneumatics;
UTC Aerospace for the electrical system and lighting; Parker for the fuel, hydraulics and fly by wire systems, Goodrich for the
engine nacelle;
Meggitt for the wheels and brakes;
Michelin for the tires;
Spirit for the pylons;
Honeywell for the
APU; and
PPG supplies the windows. Supplier costs could be cut by 30–40% through Airbus's
market power, as a 10% procurement costs decrease would add six
gross margin points to the programme. Delivery rates continued to climb with the new brand, reaching a total output of 33 in 2018, and then rising to 48 A220 in 2019. , in
Mobile, Alabama started deliveries in 2020. The groundbreaking ceremony for the $300 million final assembly line (FAL) at the
Airbus Mobile plant in
Mobile, Alabama was held on 16 January 2019; on this occasion Airbus confirmed its confidence that there is enough demand to justify two assembly sites and that the airliner can be profitable. On 5 August 2019, production started at the Mobile facility, which was not due to be finished until 2020; work started early to ensure that the first delivery schedule could be met. The removal of Bombardier's financial constraints in February 2020 gave Airbus greater latitude for further investment in the programme, which will be needed to ramp up production rates, though this will push back the
break-even point of the programme to the mid-2020s. On 2 June 2020, the first A220 produced in Alabama completed its first flight. By that date, production of the first aircraft for
JetBlue Airways had also started. The first US-assembled A220 aircraft, an A220-300, was delivered to Delta on 22 October 2020. In January 2021, as Airbus reviewed its production rates following a shift in demand away from wide-bodies affected by the
COVID-19 pandemic, the A220 was expected to reach a production rate of five aircraft per month by the end of the first quarter as previously foreseen. In May 2021, Airbus targeted a production rate of six per month from early 2022, and intends to reach 14 (ten in Quebec and four in Alabama) per month by the middle of the decade to be profitable. On 10 January 2022, Airbus introduced a "sub-assembly line" a U-shaped pre-assembly line with four stations used for preparatory work and seven for the actual equipping, in order to install systems earlier, stabilising the production process. The equipped fuselage sections are then moved to the FAL in Mirabel or in Mobile at a rate of six per month as of November 2022. These investments had accelerated A220 production and confirmed that the programme is on track to reach its target rate of 14 aircraft per month by mid-decade.
Further development Performance improvements After beating performance promises by 3%,
performance improvement packages shaving operating costs were explored prior to the
Airbus partnership; these could include putting doors on the exposed main wheels, reducing drag but adding weight and complexity, and adding two to three more seats by moving the aft lavatory, without reducing the seat pitch. On 21 May 2019, Airbus announced a
MTOW increase from the second half of 2020, from for the A220-100 and for the A220-300, expanding the range by to: for the A220-100 and for the A220-300. With the Airbus ruleset ( passengers with bags, 3% enroute reserve, alternate and 30 minutes hold), the 108-seat A220-100 could reach and the 130-seat A220-300 would achieve a range of while being limited by its fuel capacity. With a denser economy seating at a 30-inch pitch down from 32, a 116-seat A220-100 would still reach and a 141-seat A220-300 would exceed . In February 2020, Airbus announced an increase in payload capacity, achieved through a increase in the
maximum zero-fuel weight and
maximum landing weight of both the -100 and the -300, to be introduced as an option from 2022. From 2021, David Neeleman's
Breeze Airways project should receive A220-300s with extra fuel tanks for of range, allowing
transatlantic flights or long routes like
Orlando–
Curitiba, Brazil, more range than the
A321LR with 70% lower trip costs than
A330s. In March 2021, Airbus offered a further increase to the MTOW of the A220-300, to , available from mid-2021 and providing another of additional range to . On long routes the payload will be increased by about . In November 2022, Airbus finally worked on the highest passenger capacity versions, i.e. the 160-seat
high-density A220-300,
Business jet (ACJ TwoTwenty) 2023 in
Geneva In October 2020, Airbus announced an
Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) variant of the A220-100, to be known as the ACJ TwoTwenty, with a range of and cabin space of for 18 passengers. On 17 May 2021, the first section of the ACJ TwoTwenty, the mid-fuselage section, had arrived at the A220 Final Assembly Line in Mirabel within the programme time frame and marked the start of the first Airbus corporate jet ever assembled in Canada. The business jet made its first flight on 14 December 2021, before delivery to
Comlux to be outfitted with a VIP cabin in Indianapolis.
Stretched variant (A221) In May 2015,
The Wall Street Journal reported that a stretched variant, tentatively dubbed the
CS500, was being studied to compete with the 160- to 180-seat versions of the Boeing 737 and A320 airliners. The existing wing would be capable of supporting such a stretched version. After the
Airbus partnership in 2018, the possible stretched variant was appropriately renamed the
A220-500, which would allow Airbus to enlarge its
A320-family replacement to better compete with the proposed
Boeing New Midsize Airplane. In January 2019, Airbus hinted that a larger A220 variant could be developed, owing to ramped-up production and market demand for the current production models. Speculation about a stretched variant continued in November, with Air France mentioning an A220-500 during an investor briefing on its modernisation strategy. In January 2022, Luxembourg flag carrier
Luxair expressed interest in the A220-500 as the airline sought to simplify its operations and avoid operating a mixed fleet of narrow-body aircraft, similarly to airBaltic, which was also said to be looking forward to the stretched variant to complement its A220-300 fleet, while Breeze Airways eyed a longer-range variant. In the same month, following
Allegiant Air's decision to walk away from the A220, due in part to the uncertainty surrounding the launch of the A220-500, Airbus CCO
Christian Scherer said the stretched A220 variant was planned, although it was not an agenda item for a short-term decision. In July, Airbus solicited an engine proposal from Pratt & Whitney and
CFM International as a possible second supplier for the newly stretched variant, as well as the existing variants. In September, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury signalled to investors at Capital Markets Day that a stretched variant is necessary to increase the A220 family's share of the narrowbody market, adding, "but we don't want to be right too early". The A220-500 could be launched only once the production is geared up and the programme is profitable. In May 2023,
Bloomberg reported that Airbus was reviewing the proposed stretched variant to compete more directly with the 737 MAX 8 and free up space for more A321 production. The concept, which Airbus now calls
the A221, is gaining clarity as the company mulls an upgrade to the A220 wing design and accelerates design studies. These efforts aim to meet growing market demand and improve the aircraft's overall performance to become a more distinct model within the A220 Family. At the 2025
Paris Air Show, Benoît Schultz, CEO of Airbus Canada LP, said the company would have completed “very advanced studies” on the A221 by the end of the year, addressing the question of whether a new engine would be needed. Lars Wagner, the new CEO of Airbus Commercial Airplanes, told Reuters in January 2026 that he favored the new variant, which could accommodate 165 passengers in a single-class configuration. Within Airbus, the debate centered on whether to opt for a "simple" stretched version or one with a larger wing and more powerful engines. While a simple stretch trades range for capacity, it is likely the preferred option.
Further certification In December 2018, the EASA approved
Category IIIa/IIIb
instrument approaches for
autolanding the A220 with no decision height but runway visibility minimum requirements. In January 2019, A220 powered with PW1500G gained
ETOPS 180 approval from
Transport Canada, allowing direct routes over water or remote regions. The A220 was the first commercial airliner to obtain domestic ETOPS certification from Transport Canada. In July 2021, the EASA had officially approved an increase in the A220-300's maximum seating to 149 passengers, subject to a modification on an overwing exit slide. In September 2021, Airbus entered into talks with the
Civil Aviation Administration of China over the certification of the A220 in order to enter the large Chinese aviation market, particularly in the western part of the country. At the 2023 Dubai Airshow, Airbus confirmed that it is seeking certification of the A220-300 for steep approach landings at London City Airport (LCY). In June 2025, Airbus was to begin certification work on the 160-seat
high-density A220-300, having learned much from the A320neo, including
"enhanced climb derate", which reduces engine usage during climb, increasing time on the wing, while maintaining maximum climb capability, and
"dual motoring to start", which allows crews to start both engines more quickly at the gate. == Design ==