Update on the A220 production
At the end of August, Pratt & Whitney confirmed that it was investigating with the FAA a vibration problem with certain A320NEO engines. For the moment there have been no reports of this type for the A220 engines. But remember that in the past, even if only the A320NEO engines had had problems, Pratt & Whitney had decided to make the same modifications to all variants of the PWGTF engine range. It will be necessary to wait before knowing if this new issue will have an impact on the delivery of the A220 engines in the months to come.
Pratt & Whitney is also working on the A220 engine replacement program that is already in service to complete the updates. During the month of September, it will replace one engine per week on SWISS aircraft and also one per week on Air Baltic aircraft. Replacements are made in Zurich for both airlines. The engines of the Korean aircraft in service are almost all up to date and only one replacement is planned for the month of September.
On September 12th, the CS100 used for flight tests and bearing the designation FTV3, will be delivered to its new owner the National School of Aerotechnics in Saint-Hubert. It remains to be seen whether the Government of Quebec will provide the necessary funds for the construction of a new hangar and the acquisition of high-tech equipment that will allow ÉNA to offer its students advanced training.
In the summer of 2017, SWISS was aiming to have received its 30 A220s by the end of 2018. There are still six aircraft to be delivered to complete this order, including two A220-100s (serial number 50018 and 50019) and four A220s. -300 (serial number 55040-44-45-46). During our last visit to Mirabel last June, all these devices were to the interior finishing stage. It is therefore possible that the last six A220s for SWISS will be delivered before the end of 2018.
The delivery schedule to Air Baltic provides two in October (55041 and 55043) and one in November (55042), there will be a break until February 2019. Four deliveries are planned for the month of February, March and April 2019 (55050-51-52-53). Another four-month break is scheduled before resuming deliveries in September 2019.
For its part, Korean Air should be able to take possession of two A220-300s by the end of the year (55035-37). The assembly of the tenth and last aircraft of the Korean Air order (55049) is still not started and its delivery will therefore not be possible before the second quarter of 2019.
All of the aircraft that are currently on the Mirabel assembly line are A220-100s destined for Delta Airlines and according to what we’ve got, the 50025 and 50026 serial numbers would be at the wing junction stage. The first delivery to Delta Airlines in the last quarter of 2018 is therefore likely as the airline will put the A220 into service in January 2019.
At the time of writing 18 A220 had been delivered in 2018, to complete the year we can add six deliveries to SWISS, three to Air Baltic, possibly two to Air Tanzania (not very sure) and two more to Delta for a total of 31 deliveries in 2018. Taking into account the assembled serial numbers and dates, the target of 34 deliveries in 2018 seems out of reach.
>>> Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
