The advent of increasing numbers of Airbus A220s in North America is gradually changing traffic patterns on the continent, says John Evans, the CEO of lessor Azorra.
Air Canada has previously said that the arrival of its A220s allows it to enter longer, thinner routes in North America such as Toronto to San Francisco with right-sized equipment. Evans says that example illustrates the effect the Airbus aircraft is having on the U.S. domestic market.
“The A220 has opened up a lot of new markets for operators, such as Delta, JetBlue and Breeze, connecting city pairs that previously haven’t had non-stop services,” Evans says. The aircraft “also gives them a lower-risk ability to go into new markets” with a lower trip cost than would be possible with narrowbodies.
Embraer E-Jets have a shorter range than the Airbus, but are similarly being used for these purposes, he adds.
“Breeze, for example, has just opened up Huntsville, Alabama, to Los Angeles [with A220-300s]. That’s never been served with a non-stop.
“Breeze is focused on rapidly expanding areas with people that have to go through major hubs to get anywhere,” Evans says. “It has a big base at Akron-Canton, in Ohio. It’s 30 minutes outside Cleveland, which is where most of the major airlines go.”
An indicator of the way in which Breeze is opening up routes—either between secondary cities or between a secondary city and a hub—is that 90% of its sectors have no non-stop competitors. That contrasts with airlines such as ULCC Spirit, more than 80% of whose routes have a competitor, Evans says.
Azorra currently has 22 A220s on order: 20 A220-300s plus two ACJ TwoTwenty executive jets. The lessor has the flexibility to switch the -300s down to the smaller -100s or add more ACJs if circumstances warrant.
In total, the company is committed to 40 of the crossover jets. That also includes the fleet of 12 ex-EgyptAir aircraft it acquired earlier this year, plus some acquired through sale and leaseback transactions.
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