Air Canada Agrees to Add More A220 Planes to Airbus Order

Air Canada agreed expand a plane order from Airbus SE as the carrier looks to enlarge its fleet amid the post-Covid rebound in air travel. 

The carrier said it’s adding 15 A220-300 jets by converting options into firm orders, according to a statement that confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg News. 

The order follows a deal closed in 2016 for 45 A220s that included 30 options. Air Canada has already received 31 of those planes, according to Airbus orders and deliveries data for September. 

The market value of the 15 additional planes is about $528 million in 2021, based on prices provided by aircraft appraiser Avitas Inc.The A220 is a Canadian aircraft, designed and launched by Montreal-based Bombardier Inc. before being sold to its European rival. 

The airline last month said it will purchase 30 ES-30 electric-hybrid aircraft to offer zero-emission flights to customers in Canada as soon as 2028. The planes, which are being developed by Sweden-based Heart Aerospace AB, are “much more cost efficient” and could help the airline expand in regional markets, Chief Executive Officer Michael Rousseau said at the time.

The landscape for plane deals is being revived as travel returns following two years of paralysis amid the Covid pandemic. Chinese airlines have ordered aircraft worth more than $40 billion from Airbus in the past few months, while formerly state-run Air India Ltd. is in talks with Boeing Co. and Airbus to place one of the largest orders in commercial aviation history, Bloomberg News reported in June.