Airbus has delivered the first of 60 Airbus A220 airliners to French flag carrier, Air France.
The aircraft was flown from Airbus’ Mirabel final assembly line in Canada to Paris Charles De Gaulle airport where it was welcomed into the fleet.
Configured to carry 148 passengers, Air France plans to use the aircraft on its medium-haul routes from this winter.
The Airbus A220 is becoming popular with carriers looking for smaller aircraft than the traditional Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 currently used on short to medium-haul routes and it is the only purpose-built 100-150 seat aircraft on the market.
It also delivers up to 25% lower fuel burn and CO2 emissions per seat compared to the previous generation aircraft in this sector, along with 50% lower NOx emissions than industry standards.
So far 170 A220 have been delivered to 11 operators worldwide.
