Air Canada orders A220s and adds more 787-9s

Air Canada has reordered twelve A220-300s it previously cancelled and will take delivery of the jets in 2024-2025, it said in its annual financial statement.

“We plan to add 12 more A220s to the fleet. Six will be delivered in 2024 and six in 2025. These are the 12 aircraft that we have previously determined we would not be purchasing. This will bring our A220 fleet count to 45 by the end of 2025,” Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer Amos Kazzaz said during an investor call.

Air Canada initially ordered forty-five A220-300s in 2016, also securing thirty options. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, it cancelled twelve of the firm orders. In November 2021, Air Canada announced a partial reversal of this decision with a renewed commitment to add two of the twelve cancelled A220s. With this latest development, it has now reconfirmed the other ten aircraft and brought the order back to its initial size.

So far, Air Canada has taken deliveries of twenty-seven A220-300s. It does not operate any A220-100s and does not have orders for the smaller variant.

Air Canada also revealed it firmed options for three Boeing 787-9s which are scheduled to deliver in 2022 and 2023, although, for the time being, all 787s deliveries are on ice due to manufacturing issues revealed in mid-2021. The carrier currently operates eight B787-8s and twenty-nine -9s and has no other outstanding orders for the family beyond the three firmed-up options.

The airline also said it agreed with Boeing to accelerate the delivery of four B737-8s, which were delivered to the carrier in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The Canadian carrier posted a CAD3.6 billion Canadian dollar (USD2.8 billion) net loss in 2021.