Airbus A220: The Bombardier C Series Story

Bombardier Origins

The story of the Airbus A220 begins not in Toulouse or Seattle but in Montréal, where Bombardier — better known for snowmobiles, ski-doos, and regional jets — announced in 2004 that it would build a 100-to-150-seat narrow-body commercial jet. The CS100 and CS300 variants would target the gap between regional jets and the bottom of the A320/737 range, a market segment that Boeing and Airbus had largely ignored since the 1990s withdrawal of the Douglas MD-87 and Boeing 737-500.

Bombardier had experience with its Q Series turboprops and CRJ regional jets but had never attempted a full-size single-aisle jet. The program was formally launched in July 2008 with launch customer Lufthansa placing orders for 30 CS100s. The total development cost was originally estimated at $3.4 billion CAD; it would eventually exceed $6 billion before the program was saved.

Financial Crisis

The C Series program consumed cash at an extraordinary rate. Bombardier encountered a cascade of technical and schedule difficulties: the Pratt & Whitney PW1500G turbofan — part of P&W's new Geared Turbofan (GTF) family — suffered development delays, the fly-by-wire flight control system required extensive rework, and the first flight slipped from 2012 to September 2013. Entry into service with SWISS International Air Lines on the CS100 finally came in July 2016, four years late.

By 2015, with the program burning through cash reserves, Bombardier sought a lifeline. The Government of Quebec invested $1 billion CAD for a 49.5% stake in the C Series Limited Partnership in 2015. Delta Air Lines placed a crucial 75-aircraft order for the CS100 in April 2016, validating the aircraft in the US market. However, Boeing filed an anti-dumping petition with the US Department of Commerce in April 2017, alleging Bombardier sold the Delta aircraft below cost with government subsidies. The US International Trade Commission ultimately dismissed Boeing's petition in January 2018 — but not before Bombardier had already agreed to transfer 50.01% of the C Series program to Airbus.

Airbus Acquisition

In October 2017, Airbus announced it would take a 50.01% controlling stake in the C Series Limited Partnership for zero dollars, assuming program management while Bombardier retained 31% and the Quebec government held the remainder. The deal gave the C Series access to Airbus's global sales network, supply chain leverage, and manufacturing expertise. In June 2018, Airbus formally rebranded the CS100 as the A220-100 and the CS300 as the A220-300. Airbus also opened a final assembly line in Mobile, Alabama — alongside its A320 line — to serve North American customers more efficiently and sidestep potential trade barriers.

In February 2020, Bombardier exited entirely, selling its remaining stake to the Quebec government, which later sold portions to Airbus. By 2023, Airbus held roughly 75% of the program with Investissement Québec at 25%.

Technical Excellence

The A220 is genuinely remarkable engineering. Its composite materials content reaches approximately 46% by structural weight — higher than any other single-aisle jet. The fuselage is notably wide for its class at 2.87 metres (compared to 3.53 m on the A320 family), offering five-abreast seating in a 2-3 configuration with wider seats and overhead bins that can accommodate full-size roller bags flat. The cabin floor width of 3.28 m comfortably surpasses the Boeing 737 (3.53 m cabin width) when comparing per-passenger experience.

The PW1500G geared turbofan features a reduction gearbox between the fan and low-pressure compressor, allowing the fan to spin 30% slower than the core. This unlocks a very high bypass ratio of 12:1, reducing noise by 20 EPNdB below ICAO limits and cutting fuel burn 20% versus the previous generation. The A220-300 achieves a range of 3,400 nautical miles (6,297 km) with 130–160 passengers — sufficient for transcontinental North American and intra-European routes.

Market Success

As of early 2026, the A220 family has accumulated over 900 firm orders from more than 30 operators worldwide. Key operators include Air Canada, Delta Air Lines, Air France, Korean Air, and Swiss. Delta operates the largest A220 fleet in North America, with over 100 aircraft. JetBlue Airways selected the A220-300 as a key fleet type. The aircraft has earned strong passenger satisfaction ratings, with its wider cabin and newer technology systems consistently praised.

The A220-300 in particular has found a niche on thin transatlantic routes that cannot support a widebody — Air France operates Paris-CDG to US secondary cities, and Delta has deployed it on New York–London Heathrow to test demand. Its fuel efficiency enables point-to-point routes previously only viable for widebodies with much higher seat counts.

Future

Airbus is studying a potential A220-500 stretch, adding approximately 20 seats to the A220-300 to create a 165-seat variant competitive with the bottom of the A320neo range. However, Airbus has been cautious about cannibalizing A320neo sales. Production rates at Mirabel, Quebec and Mobile, Alabama are being steadily increased toward a combined rate above 14 per month by 2026. The A220 program has been profitable since 2022 on a per-aircraft basis and is projected to become program-level profitable within the decade, vindicating Bombardier's original technical vision even if the Canadian company did not survive to fully harvest the reward.