Engine Issues Plague Development And Market Acceptance

The Airbus A220 was touted as the “airplane of the future” when Bombardier launched the clean sheet program in 2008. The single-aisle medium haul aircraft entered service in 2016 as the CSeries that became a favorite among pilots and the flying public.

However, delays and cost overruns combined with competition led to a government bailout and eventually bankruptcy for Bombardier, who ended up selling control of the airplane at a bargain basement price to Airbus. The French manufacturer rebranded the airplane as the A220 and sales were hot in 2018 and in the years following the pandemic as air travel returned to previous levels.

Then the durability issues with the Pratt & Whitney PW1500G turbofan emerged and forced airlines to cancel flights and ground crews. Pratt and Whitney initially said the engines would last 20,000 flight cycles. However, the company said many of them should be sent to the shop at 5,000 and some are even being sent in before reaching 600 cycles.

IBA analysts have said 15% of the global A220 fleet is grounded and another 42% are approaching or have reached inspection age. And now, cancelations are outnumbering orders as EgyptAir sold its 12 A220s earlier this year. Cyprus Airways ordered two brand new A220s and both experienced engine problems. It took delivery of one recently and terminated the order for the second one. This is giving Airbus headaches because while the company currently finishes 6 aircraft per month it needs to produce 14 to break even.

To be fair, the PW1500G is not the only engine with problems by any means and Pratt & Whitney says it’s rolling out a new combustor design in 2027 but timelines are notorious for slippage. Some analysts say the A220 design may win out eventually, but Airbus and Pratt & Whitney need to find a way to minimize the problems or at least bring the impact of the issues closer to what the industry sees with other engines.

FMI:  www.airbus.com/en