SINGAPORE, 30 May 2023: The latest generation A220 passenger aircraft has embarked on a demonstration tour of Southeast Asia that started at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) in Malaysia last week.
The aircraft has since visited Jakarta, Indonesia, and Bangkok, where the media joined a demonstration flight to Thailand’s Samui island that illustrated the A220’s ability to land and take off on short runways.
The A220 is the most modern airliner in its size category, carrying between 100 to 160 passengers on flights of up to 3,450 nautical miles (6,400km).
The A220 brings a 25% reduction in fuel consumption and carbon emissions compared with previous-generation aircraft of a similar size. This brings an immediate contribution to industry goals to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment. The latest Pratt & Whitney PW1500G geared turbofan engines power the aircraft.
The A220 is available in two versions, with the -100 variant seating between 100 and 130 passengers and the larger -300 variant seating between 130 and 160 in typical layouts. The A220 has the largest cabin and windows and the widest seats in its class or Airbus A320 family of aircraft.
Airbus leases the aircraft taking part in the demonstration tour from airBaltic and features a layout of 145 seats in a single-class passenger cabin.
Today, the A220-300 is operated in the Asia-Pacific region by Korean Air on domestic and international services with 10 aircraft. Australia’s Qantas is set to become the second operator in the region when it takes delivery of the first of 20 A220s on order as part of its domestic fleet replacement programme. Airbus has received 785 orders for the A220 and delivered more than 260 aircraft for this programme.
