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20:15 (00:15 UTC) - September 25, 2018 - Quebec, Canada - by Sylvain Faust for Fliegerfaust.com

A220 CSeries Production Update

A220 - Airbus is Scrapping three (3) already built aircraft

First, something I've wrote about a few times and also Normand Hamel (see "Normand's Run-Up Pad" section), I mean the A220-100 (CS100) MSN 50007, 50008 and 50009...

Those are early production CSeries aircraft built after "Production 1, aka P1" aircraft (MSN 50006). The first 5 (i.e. 50001 – 50005) are aircraft built for the testing and certification process of the CSeries (now A220), called FTVs (FTV1 to FTV5, FTV stands for "Flight Test Vehicle"). The first "official" production aircraft was the 6^th CS100 (called A220-100 by Airbus) (MSN 50006). This aircraft, MSN 50006 was never delivered and is still parked east of Wichita, Kansas (inside!)

Following were MSN 50007, 50008 and 50009. Rumours had them assigned to Braathens Regional Airlines (BRA), formerly Malmö Aviation, who was supposed to be the CSeries launch customer but Malmö never took delivery of any aircraft associated with their order. SWISS became the official launch customer and decided to take their first CSeries starting at MSN 50010 and up. More on Malmö delays here

For two years those three aircraft has been sitting outdoor at Mirabel Airport 24h a day challenging the rain and heat of summer, the snow and cold temperature of winter. During last winter one of those 3 aircraft (MSN 50007) was resting on its tail after the front/nose gear cable holding it down broke. An article on this even can be found here. (When the uncompleted aircraft has no engine and no interior the center of gravity makes its tail too heavy to be able to stand on its landing wheel correctly without attaching the aircraft nose gear to the ground).

Airbus will be deciding this week to officially scrap those 3 early A220 (CSeries) aircraft and to return to the inventory the parts that can be salvaged from them since the cost to bring those aircraft up to the current production status would be too high.

The actual lost associated by officially writing off those aircraft is unknown at this time. It is expected that this write-off will be applied before the end of September, i.e. the 3^rd quarter result.

Weirdly enough is that SWISS is to take delivery of one of those (but slightly not as old) aircraft that were also parked (storage) outdoor, i.e. MSN 50018 and 50019. Maybe Airbus / Bombardier realized how expansive it was to revive 50018 back from the dead? But SWISS will still be taking 50019, so, one more to be brought back inside for a major tuned up soon.

Delta First A220 – MSN 50020 First Flight

Expect to see Delta first A220 (CSeries) aircraft to be doing its "First Flight" from Mirabel Airport next week! Do I sense a quicker production and delivery process?

More Update…

SWISS A220-300 MSN 55040 is leaving Mirabel Airport for Switzerland tomorrow early morning.

Korean Air A220-300 MSN 55035 is to be leaving Mirabel Airport for South Korea via Alaska Friday evening around 18:00 (22:00 UTC).

First A220 for Air Tanzania MSN 55047 is progressing very well I'm told. Also their 2nd aircraft, MSN 55048. Stay tuned for more soon on those two A220-300 aircraft the airline ordered and to be delivered to a first Africa operator.

As for FTV3, the A220-100 / CSeries CS100 (MSN 50003) that Bombardier and the people of Quebec (the only 2 shareholders of the CSeries business prior to the closing of the $0 deal with Airbus) gave to ÉNA, it will be leaving Wichita for St-Hubert Airport YHU/CYHU on October 11, 2018, weather permitting. "l'École Nationale d'Aérotechnique" (ÉNA) is located at St-Hubert airport east of Montreal. More on this event here

Sylvain Faust, Fliegerfaust

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Thanks to you for reading and sharing Fliegerfaust with others! Sylvain.