Iraqi Airways takes delivery of maiden A220

Iraqi Airways (IA, Baghdad) has taken delivery of its first of five A220-300s on order from Airbus after YI-ARE (msn 55136) arrived at Baghdad on January 7.

The jet, which features 12 business and 120 economy class seats, was due to have arrived in October last year but, according to local media, was held up due to delays in the making of final payments to Airbus and Pratt & Whitney. The holiday season in Europe was also a contributing factor affecting the ferry flight dates.

The state-owned carrier has yet to announce its plans for the A220, which will compliment its fleet of six CRJ900LRs in the regional jet/small narrowbody niche. In November last year, Shabbir Ali Dharsi, an adviser to the chief executive, told Air Transport World that Iraqi Airways was looking to retire “some” of the Bombardier Aerospace jets.

Aside from the A220s, Iraqi Airways also has sixteen B737-8s and ten B787s (nine B787-8s and one B787-9) due from Boeing. The first MAX are due to arrive later this quarter with the Dreamliners due at some point during the semester.

At present, its fleet entails sixteen B737-800s, three A320-200s, two A321-200s, one A330-200, two B747-400s, and one B777-200(LR).