After Air also showed interest in the Airbus A220-500, an expanded version of this model not yet launched by the European manufacturer, Air Baltic revealed that it expects a complement to its fleet with the A220-500.
In addition to Air Baltic's interest in the A220-500, the expanded version, the company, which has a fleet of only aircraft of this model, wants to take advantage of David Neeleman's momentum to also equip its A220-300 with extra fuel tanks.
“Currently, airBaltic operates one of the longest scheduled A220-300 routes – Riga-Dubai and Riga-Tenerife. With future development and further increase in range, we would an additional fuel tank capacity as well as a stretched version.”, said a spokesperson for airBaltic said to AeroTime in an emailed statement dated Dec. 1, 2021.
With the interest of another airline in the A220-500, and good numbers of orders for the entire family of aircraft, Airbus can think about the development of a stretched version, planned since the beginning of the project by Bombardier.
airBaltic has 32 A220-300 aircraft in its fleet and has an order for another 18 A220-300 aircraft, which it should receive in the coming months. A separate contract features an additional 30 call options that the company can exercise at any time.
Some companies, such as JetBlue and Air , have chosen to use the A220-300 to replace the A320neo, even with the smaller capacity of seats and cargo.
A bigger A220
In Bombardier's project there was also a possible CS500 version, with greater capacity than the CS300 (current A220-300). An expansion of 3 to 4 meters in the fuselage of the A220 would be enough to bring the plane to a maximum capacity of 190 engers, without compromising the aircraft's weight so much.
The president of the CSeries program stated in 2016 that the aircraft's current wing would be capable of ing a larger, heavier version.
Even growing in size, the difference in weight is large enough between a new generation aircraft, such as the A220 line, and the old generation of Airbus but with new engines, the A319neo. An A220-300 has an operational weight (empty) of approximately 37 tonnes, while the A319neo weighs 42,6 tonnes.
An expanded fuselage version of the A220 would be a direct market replacement for the A320neo, likely with much greater fuel efficiency.
