Instead of the Boeing 737, Max, Southwest Airlines is looking for Airbus planes to join the fleet. Since re-certification, the Boeing 737 Max is already lined up to be airborne. Southwest Airlines is searching for a Boeing 737 option in which the company eyes on Airbus A220 aircraft.
Since the aircraft became grounded in March 2019 despite serious accidents in Ethiopia and Indonesia, which killed 346 passengers, Southwest has been searching for a 737 Max choice. The organization would accept aircraft from Boeing and others, CEO Gary Kelly has informed.
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Airbus A220 with an Air Baltic livery to land in Nepal for the performance demonstration tour
The A220 is now on the target list, Mike Van de Ven, chief operating officer of Southwest, said. The A220 is the smaller jet from Airbus that, depending on the layout, can accommodate 100 to 150 seats and has a range of around 3,900 miles, the same as Boeing’s 737 Max. Delta placed a significant gamble on the A220-300, buying 95 aircraft.
First US-built A220 delivery
Airbus’s first-ever US-built A220-300 was delivered to Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines from Mobile, Alabama. Delta Air Lines is already the biggest client of the A220 and would be the first A220 carrier in the united states to fly all models of A220-100 and A220-300 aircraft, with a maximum of 95 on order.
123 A220s have been sold to seven airlines as of the ends of September 2020 and are now being operated on services in Asia, America, Europe, and Africa, highlighting the flexibility of Airbus’s newest family member.
Airbus A220 details
The A220 Family aircraft is primarily configured for the 100-150 seat segment, resulted in purpose-built efficiency improvements and an irreversible scale scorecard. Besides, the A220-100 and A220-300 have more than 99 percent parts similarity and the same pilot-style ranking, making it more straightforward for the community to connect to every carrier’s fleets.
The airliners of the A220 family were built using state-of-the-art digital aerodynamics coupled with the modern era’s high-performance computing capabilities; the effect is an airplane family with optimum aerodynamic productivity and effectiveness. The twin Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1500 G tailored turbofan engines, specially developed for the A220, operate the airplane. The aircraft boasts 25 percent lower fuel usage per seating than previous version jets, half the noise impact, and minimized pollution with an impeller diameter of 12:1, one of the best of any turbofan engine in the globe.
Together, the A220 family is the most potent aircraft of its class in the skies, with modest running costs and low noisiness. This allows the A220 family aircraft suitable for sound-sensitive airports and metropolitan services.
