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Air Canada's Mark Galardo, Vice-President Network Planning, but "ordering the A220 was a very sound business decision."
Air Canada views the A220 as a “Game Changer that will Create Markets that Didn’t Exist Before”
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January 16, 2019 - by Chris Sloan for AirwaysMag.com
Six months after assuming control of the program formerly known as the Bombardier CSeries, Airbus presented a state of the A220 update.
The most significant newsworthy item of their presentation was that the A220 achieved Extended Twin Operations (ETOPS) 180-minute certification from Transport Canada.
CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL: AIR CANADA
Many have speculated that the A220 had a home-field advantage when Montreal-based, Air Canada, placed its order for 45 A220-300s back in February 2016.
That was a definite plus, according to Air Canada's Mark Galardo, Vice-President Network Planning, but "ordering the A220 was a very sound business decision."
"The decision to purchase it was as a result of analysis of fleet and network. This product was too good to pass up and is a key part of Air Canada's long-term strategy," Galardo said
Air Canada views the A220 as a "game changer that will create markets that didn't exist before."
"We saw this before with the CRJ in the 1990s which created nearly 20 new city-pairs in one year, increasing our trans-border market share by 30%. Today we're the largest foreign carrier serving the U.S. in terms of market share," he said.
When it enters service in January of 2020, the sweet spot of the A220-300 will be in its positioning on existing high frequency, medium-haul routes and creating new pairs being explored, such as Montreal-Seattle, Vancouver-Washington DC, Halifax-Vancouver, and Toronto-Monterrey.
Though there are no ETOPS operations planned for Air Canada's A220-300s, the new aircraft will be central to fueling the airline's status as the fastest growing international airline in the world by RPKs with a particular emphasis on providing connecting flow between the U.S. and Air Canada's long-haul international destinations via its hubs in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal.
Air Canada considers the plane a "hub buster that will drive an additional 1% of market share and an additional CAD$1 Billion in incremental revenue. We believe it will deliver a 15% cost advantage over the E-190s we currently fly," remarked Galardo.
Read more https://airwaysmag.com/industry/airbus-reports-a22...
