AIRBUS A220 - For the First Time in Brazil ​

 

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The newest aircraft of the Airbus Family held a demonstration tour in Latin America.

 

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On April 12, 2022, Brazil received for the first time specifically in Guarulhos, the Airbus A220-300 in the colors of Swiss Air Lines, registration HB-JCU. On the occasion, the Swiss flag airline “lent” its aircraft to be the demonstrator of the manufacturer Airbus during the Demo Tour in Latin America. The same aircraft was also the main objective  of Airbus to reinforce its long-standing commitment to the Latin American aerospace industry by statically presenting its latest products during FIDAE 2022, one of the largest civil and military aviation events in Latin America that traditionally takes place in Santiago, Chile. With the end of the FIDAE event, the aircraft had an exclusive stop in Buenos Aires, Argentina to demonstrate to potential Argentine customers before arriving in Brazil.

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According to the law in the RBAC – Brazilian Civil Aviation Regulation – All aircraft from abroad, bound for Brazil or in transit, must make the first landing and the last take-off at an international airport. That is, even if it is just a touch and a dash to proceed to the destination of some national airport. This was the case of the A220, which arrived in Brazil in Guarulhos, on the night of April 11, where the demonstration event in Brazil took place at Congonhas Airport. On the 12th in the morning, the A220 flew to Congonhas Airport.

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At the invitation of Airbus, MORE THAN FLY , had the unique opportunity to get to know the innovative aircraft that was built especially for the 100-150 seat market equipped with two Pratt & Whitney PW1500G engines, bringing together state-of-the-art aerodynamics and advanced materials. Press and executive guests had the opportunity to know all the details of Airbus' newest and smallest aircraft and of course, fly the plane.

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The A220 prototype was developed in two versions, the -100 version and the -300 version. The -300 version has only one difference in the fuselage with 3.7 meters longer than the -100.

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The A220 Market

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According to data from Airbus in February 2022, the A220 program has already received more than 740 orders, which corresponds to 56% of the market share in the category in which the aircraft competes and obtains  more orders than the A319 from the same manufacturer with 70 aircraft on order, which corresponds to 5% of the market. While its competitors Embraer E2 gets  225 aircraft on order corresponding to 17% and the Boeing 737 MAX 7 with 294 aircraft on order with 22% of the market share in the category.

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There are more than 200 A220 aircraft that are already flying with 25 customers, which corresponds to 37% for large air operators, 32% for low-cost airlines, 27% for aircraft leasing companies including banks and 5% for regional airlines.

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Air France and the North American company JetBlue were the first airlines to fly the A220 carrying passengers commercially.

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A220, an Aircraft Committed to the Environment

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Airlines have been going hard with the ESG (Environmental, Social and governance – it corresponds to the environmental, social and governance practices of an organization) and Airbus, as well as all aviation, have also been very committed with good results in this sustainability focus.

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The A220 aircraft is also designed to operate at airports in urban areas, such as Congonhas Airport, surrounded by houses around it, the aircraft is one of the quietest and provides customers with a 50% reduction in noise emissions. for the community.

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With the A220 program alone, the jet offers up to 25% reduction in CO2 emissions and about 50% less NOx gases than required by industry standards, resulting in 25% less delivery in terms of consumption. of fuel per seat.

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Airbus measured the A220 against previous generation aircraft and concluded that the A220 saves 170,000 aircraft in CO2 emissions per year, equivalent to planting 3 Ibirapuera Park per year, just to offset carbon emissions. A significant gain with social and ecological responsibility in sustainability goals.

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The American airline  Jetblue replaced part of its Airbus A320 aircraft with A220 aircraft and the company has already achieved positive results that were disclosed to its investors in a report for the year 2020, with a 40% reduction in fuel consumption  per seat, 30% with low operating cost per seat and a flight efficiency of 6,296 KM (3,400nm).

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Passenger Comfort

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With a maximum configuration of 150 seats, the Airbus A220 can be configured with Business Class with 4 seats per row (2-2) and Economy Class with 5 seats per row (3-2), these configurations the airline can choose from in the configuration. executive and economic or only economic .

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It has a good height of the roof, impressive comfort to walk in the aircraft and best of all with good lighting all thanks to its modern larger windows compared to the A320 family.

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With the A220, Airbus has harmonized the philosophy for pilots operating the A220 and the A320 Family, now it has shared services and support with both aircraft.

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“There are different trainings, the A220 has a training  shorter and reduces the training time in the simulator, there is also an advantage that allows pilots to have contact between the A220 and the A320, it is not the same level, but it has a short time with the same efficiency , this helps in the economy that the companies say that matters,” said Victor Shigueoka, Marketing Director at Airbus.

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The A220 and the A320 Family have different values and airlines are still interested in the commonality that Airbus can offer its operators, from the A220 to the A321. “Airlines in Europe diversify their aircraft models due to their regions  mountainous and climatic areas where they operate, all this, according to their performances and their niches. Then  for Airbus it is interesting to have two offers to offer its operators”, concluded Shigueoka.

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As of press time, no airline in Latin America operates the A220 although Airbus has brought it to Brazil to present exclusively to GOL Linhas Aéreas.

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Could it be because of the direct and strong competition from Embraer in Latin America, since the E2 is the aircraft that competes directly with the A220? According to Airbus, the A220 still has a great chance of being inserted in any Latin American air operator.

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“Unfortunately airlines in South America suffered more impacts than the average of other airlines compared to airlines in Europe, Asia  and North America during COVID-19. Latin American air operators did not have great support from their governments and still had to cut their financial costs although Airbus had an excellent year of orders in 2021 , but companies before the pandemic  they were cultivated in renewing fleets and increasing the air network and had the financial capacity. Latin America has to remake the financial costs first, and decisions will have to be taken in the future,” said Antônio  Costa Director of Market Development for Single Aisle Aircraft  from Airbus.

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* DISCLAMER:

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The aviation news website MAIS QUE VOAR (MORE THAN FLY) does not agree with Fakenews.

This publication contains content with sources from Airbus press.

 

This publication was written in Portuguese (Brazil) and automatically translated by Google robots to English. MORE THAN FLY, adopted Google technology for everyone around the world to have access to information and optimize our time and budget with translations. We ask for common sense to take into account translation errors. After all, every robot is limited and is never compared to the superiority of a human intelligence.

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