Trouble is brewing at Animawings. On 29 September 2026, the airline was forced to park its Airbus A220s due to unpaid lease fees and conflict with their lessors. A day later, the airline began insolvency proceedings at the court in Bucharest.
The proceedings will enable the airline to restructure and find new investors. For now, it will continue operations with its A320s while they work on resolving the issue with the lessors of the A220s.
Animawings said that technical issues with the A220s, as well increased fuel prices has impacted the airline's financial outlook in a very negative way.
The airline was founded in 2019 and began flying a year later. It currently has a fleet of six Airbus A220-300s and two A320s.
Air Niugini has released pictures of its very first Airbus A220. The aircraft, an A220-300, is currently registered as C-FOWU (55388) and will become P2-PGA. It wears a special livery to celebrate Papua New Guinea's 50th independence birthday. Delivery is scheduled for 15 September 2025.
The airline holds orders directly with Airbus for eight A220-100s and has lease-agreements with lessor Azorra for three A220-300s.
Air Niugini will use the eleven new Airbuses to gradually replace its current fleet of four Fokker 70s and five Fokker 100s. The type will also be used to replace the three Boeing B737-800s in the fleet.
Next to the F70/100s and B737s, the airline's fleet is further made-up of two Boeing B767-300ERs, one DHC-8-300, and four DHC-8-400s.
Cyprus Airways plans to take another A220-300 from Azorra, this time brand-new, by the end of 2024.
The Cypriot carrier already operates two units of the type on lease from Air Lease Corporation. While it initially planned to grow the subfleet to 12 units - including six on a prospective order directly from Airbus Canada - it took a step back on these plans earlier this year due to the prevailing engine issues. It did not respond to ch-aviation's request for comment regarding its current plan to grow the A220 fleet beyond the two units from Azorra.
Azorra placed another of the ex-EgyptAir A220s with Breeze Airways earlier this year. The other ten aircraft remain stored at Cairo International. The lessor has an unfilled firm order for 20 more units directly from the manufacturer.
On 13 August 2024, airBaltic and Airbus announced that both companies agreed to the firming of options on the A220-300 by the airline into firm order. In total, airBaltic is firming ten orders, bringing the total number of A220s ordered to 90.
The ten options were part of a previous deal announced by both companies during the Dubai Air Show of 2023. Then, the airline placed a firm order for 30 A220s with 20 options. Now, ten options remain.
Delivery of the 40 A220s are expected to take place from 2026 onwards.
The first A220-300 for Breeze Airways has rolled-out of the paintshop at the Airbus-plant in Mobile (AL). The aircraft will become N203BZ (55128) and is planned for delivery in October.
At the same time the airline announced it has decided to firm options on another twenty A220-300s. Already in April we reported on this order when Airbus booked the twenty aircraft for an undisclosed customer. With this order, Breeze now has 80 A220-300s on order. Today, Breeze operates a fleet of ten ERJ190s and three ERJ195s.
JetBlue Operates Its First Airbus A220 Passenger Service
JetBlue’s first revenue flight using their sparkling new Airbus A220-300 took off late on Monday evening. The aircraft, which Airbus manufactured in Alabama, is flying passengers on a commercial service from Boston to Tampa.
JetBlue’s first A220-300 service is on its way to Florida. Photo: Airbus
First JetBlue A220-300 passenger flight now in the air
The plane (registered as N3008J) is the first of 60 A220-300 aircraft the New York-based airline ordered back in 2019. JetBlue says the second A220-300 is due to land in the coming days. The third is due in May.
“We selected the Airbus A220 nearly three years ago, knowing its cost savings, superior performance, and customer-friendly design would evolve our fleet for the long-term future,” said JetBlue’s Ursula Hurley in a statement.
On Monday, the Airbus A220 departed Boston’s Logan Airport around 16:50 (local rime). At the time of publication, the plane is currently en route to Tampa with an estimated arrival time of 19:30.
“Today’s first JetBlue A220 commercial flight marks the culmination of our A220 journey coming to life,” says JetBlue’s Rob Dewar. Mr Dewar, a Senior Vice President at the airline, must be doing something right. JetBlue has named the plane after him.
Improved operating efficiencies back up the marketing spin
The nimble A220-300 is proving a hit across the North American airline industry. Air Canada and Delta Air Lines also fly the plane and are waiting for dozens more to arrive. David Neeleman’s Breeze Airways also has an order for 60 A220-300s. As JetBlue said on Monday, there’s a lot to like about the plane.
“Flying customers onboard the newest and most stylish member of its fleet captures the spirit of our vision when we designed the A220 as a truly innovative single-aisle aircraft. The A220 is an industry leader, setting the standard in cabin comfort, operating economics, environmental footprint, and digital capability,” Mr Dewar said.
There is also some hard data to back up the marketing spin. The A220 boasts a nearly 30% lower direct operating cost per seat than JetBlue’s existing E190 fleet. Lower seat costs come from both fuel and non-fuel savings. JetBlue’s maintenance costs will substantially decrease well into the decade.
The A220-300 opens up new opportunities for JetBlue
With a range of over 6,000 kilometers and reduced operating costs, the A220-300 opens up a swag of new route opportunities for JetBlue.
“The A220 covers a wide mix of new and existing market possibilities with excellent economics on short, medium, and even potentially transcontinental markets,” the JetBlue statement says.
“This will allow for better overall aircraft utilization and provide a competitive advantage for JetBlue, especially in short-haul markets. New cities, routes, and markets will be evaluated in the future as more A220 aircraft join the JetBlue fleet.”
JetBlue is outfitting its Airbus A220-300s with the Collins Meridian seat in a 2-3 layout. These are the only JetBlue planes offering this configuration. The JetBlue A220 will fly 140 passengers, including 30 seats offering Even More Space seating.
Every seat will offer a 10.1 inch, 1080P high-definition screen. The IFE will offer 30 channels of DIRECTV with DVR-like pause and rewind functionality, full seasons of shows, hundreds of movies, and premium content from HBO and ShowTime. Not bad for a short-haul domestic flight.
JetBlue plans to bed down their new A220-300s flying between Florida and the northeast for the time being.
Air France-KLM Chief Executive Ben Smith reaffirmed the group's belief that a stretched version of the A220 Family aircraft "would make sense" as a replacement for Air France's A320 fleet.
Speaking during the Routes Reconnected online conference, Smith underlined that the Franco-Dutch group was also evaluating other options.
"Of course, now that the B737 MAX is flying again, we could look at that. And, of course, there’s always the A321, the LR and the XLR," Smith said.
Air France has a firm order for sixty A220-300s which are due to replace its eighteen A318-100s and thirty-three A319-100s. However, the airline has yet to order a replacement for its larger, but equally aged, narrowbodies - forty-four A320-200s (11.2 years old on average), five A321-100s (26), and fifteen A321-200s (15.4). It has not ordered any A320neo Family jets yet.
Although the carrier has strong links to Airbus and was the world's first operator of an A320-200 in 1988, it used to also operate Boeing narrowbodies in the form of B737-200s, B737-300s, and B737-500s. The ch-aviation fleets history module shows that the last -500, F-GJNH (msn 25233), was retired by the carrier in May 2007. Since then, Air France's narrowbody fleet has consisted exclusively of A320 Family aircraft.
Air France's sister carrier KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol) currently operates Boeing narrowbodies only, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. It has yet to announce any fleet decisions regarding the replacement of its sixteen B737-700s, thirty-one B737-800s, and five B737-900s. KLM has never operated Airbus narrowbodies, although its chief executive said earlier this year that both the B737 MAX and the A320neo Families were in contention. Smith said that the group was also planning to review the long-term fleeting needs of Transavia Airlines and Transavia France, which currently operate a combined total of five B737-700s and seventy-five -800s.
Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) took delivery of its first A220-300, N302DU (msn 55070), on October 22, 2020, and plans to commence scheduled flights with the type on November 16, 2020.
The aircraft is also the first A220 built at Airbus Canada's plant at Mobile Downtown airport, from where it was ferried directly to Delta's main base at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson. The Mobile A220 Final Assembly Line was launched in August 2019.
Delta Air Lines is the world's largest customer of the A220 Family aircraft. It has so far taken deliveries of thirty-one A220-100s and has an additional 14 of the type on firm order. Its order book for the -300s totals 50, including the one recently delivered.
First Airbus A220-300 built in Mobile rolls out paint shop
Mobile, Alabama - The first Airbus A220-300 jet assembled in Airbus' Mobile plant in Alabama, United States, rolled out the final assembly line.
The 130-seat aircraft will be delivered to the US operator Delta Air Lines. Delta Air Lines has six copies of -300 variant of the A220 Family in its order book with the European aircraft manufacturer. All planes are scheduled for delivery by the end of this year.
Delta Air Lines has 30 A220-100 in its fleet, and ten more will join the US carrier's fleet over time. Delta took delivery of the first -100 variant in February 2019.
Delta is the launch operator of A220-100 in North America.
Airbus A220-300 to perform cold-weather testing in Yellowknife, Canada
Yellowknife, Canada - An Airbus A220-300 arrived in the capital of Northwest Territory for cold-weather testing.
The temperature was below -40 Celsius when the A220 landed at the Yellowknife Airport on Jan.12. Details of the testing program are not known.
The temperature is not expected to exceed -30 Celsius during the whole week.
The Northwest territory government is working to position Yellowknife as a cold-weather testing hub. The helicopter manufacturing division of the European Aerospace giant carried out similar tests in Yellowknife five years ago. Bell Helicopter was the most recent visitor.
Airbus's A220-300 has been operated by airlines around the world since 2016. The aircraft served under the Bombardier CS-300 brand until July 2018. That year, Airbus took over the majority stake of Bombardier's CSeries program in 2018 and rebranded as A220.
Air Canada's first Airbus A220-300 makes its maiden flight
Montreal, Canada - The first Airbus A220-300 intended for the North American carrier Air Canada made its maiden flight in Mirabel, Montreal.
The aircraft is the first of 45 Airbus A220-300s from Air Canada's order book with the European aircraft manufacturer. The Canadian flag carrier expects to take delivery of its first A220-300 in the coming weeks. The first scheduled flight will be conducted in early 2020.
With this delivery, Air Canada becomes the first airline in Canada to operate the Canadian-designed and -built A220 jet. It will also be the first airline in North America to fly the larger A220-300 variant of the A220 Family.
Besides its domestic routes, Air Canada is planning to fly the A220 from its bases in Canada to the destinations in the United States, such as Montreal to Seattle and Toronto to San Jose.
The A220 was originally designed and developed as CSeries by the Canadian aircraft manufacturer. Due to some financial difficulties and marketing problems, Bombardier sold the majority stake of the program to the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus last year in July.
Around 100 Airbus A220 jets are currently flying with six operators on routes in Asia, America, Europe and Africa.
EgyptAir (MS, Cairo Int'l) will launch scheduled A220-300 operations on September 6, 2019, initially using the type on domestic Egyptian routes, ch-aviation research has revealed.
The Egyptian flag carrier will initially use the new Airbus Canada jet on routes from Cairo Int'l to Aswan (weekly from September 6), Luxor (9x weekly from September 6), and Sharm el Sheikh (weekly starting from September 8).
EgyptAir's A220-300s will be equipped with 140 seats in a single-class layout and will be operated by its EgyptAir Express (MSE, Cairo Int'l) division. The airline has twelve such aircraft on order from the manufacturer.
Air Vanuatu (NF, Port Vila) is set to put down a VUV850 million vatu (USD7.46 million) deposit on four Airbus narrowbodies. According to The Daily Post, Minister of Finance and Economic Management, Gaetan Pikioune, and Air Vanuatu Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Derek Nice, signed the instrument on February 15.
The aircraft are 133-seaters - presumably A220-300s - the first of which is to deliver by June 2020.
According to Nice, the jets will be based out of Vanuatu and used to serve destinations in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific region.
Last month, the South Pacific island's prime minister, Charlot Salwai, unveiled the "Shared Vision 2030" initiative among whose aims is to grow Air Vanuatu's fleet from the current seven aircraft - one B737-800, one ATR72-600, one ATR72-500, three DHC-6-300s, and one BN-2 - to thirteen by 2030.
Air Vanuatu is also looking to build greater synergies with other regional South Pacific-based carriers.
