Airbus to boost A220 jet’s range

Airbus is proceeding with plans to expand the range of the A220, its smallest jet, allowing airlines to open more niche routes internationally. Airline entrepreneur David Neeleman, who had said last month he was discussing adding extra endurance to the jetliner with Airbus, confirmed to Reuters on Friday that a decision to offer the longer-range jet was now a given.

“It is under way, so we are … kind of arguing about when. But it is not a matter of ‘if,’ it is just a matter of ‘when’,” Neeleman said.

Airbus declined to comment.

“We are always working with our customers and listening to their fleet needs, and we don’t comment on the status of our confidential discussions,” an Airbus spokeswoman said.

The upgrade would require an extra fuel tank, which means Airbus would also have to increase the plane’s maximum take-off weight in order to preserve and then improve performance. Airbus has already announced some increases in that metric.

“We need to get up to 4,000 (nautical) miles,” Neeleman said. The A220-300 currently flies about 3,700 miles.

Breeze has ordered 60 of the 130-seat jets, sitting between smaller Embraer regional jets and the larger Boeing 737 MAX 7.

Neeleman declined to comment on a recent report that Breeze had already expanded this order by another 20 jets.

Breeze, which aims to link underserved U.S. cities, will take delivery of A220s beginning in October and use them on routes of two hours or more, including, eventually, international markets.

For shorter trips it will use older Embraer 190/195 aircraft inherited from Neeleman-founded Brazilian carrier Azul.

By Robert Besser www.reuters.com