Bad News For Airbus A220

It’s unfortunately bad news for the Airbus A220, which continues to be impacted by Pratt & Whitney GTF engine issues.

SWISS, a key customer of the regional jet, doesn’t expect problems with engines on this aircraft type to ease anytime soon and will remain a persistent problem until at least the turn of the decade.

The airline’s CEO spoke with Aviation Week earlier this week in Zurich and stated that the situation is of extreme significance and equally concerning as the years continue to progress with no signs of easing up.

SWISS already expects at best ten of its A220s to be on the ground throughout 2026 due to technical problems with the jet, a massive blow to its single-aisle operations, following struggles in reliability this year and in previous years.

For SWISS, there remains a continued need to manage the ongoing capacity losses and find ways to mitigate them, whether through leasing or other route adjustments, but this is far from ideal.

Unfortunately for SWISS and other airlines, the A220 is not the only aircraft impacted by the GTF issues; the problem also affects the A320neo family, which SWISS and the broader Lufthansa Group operate.

For SWISS, what has become frustrating is not just the obstacles driven by the GTF challenges, but also the inability to plan around the return to service of these aircraft, with timeframes continuing to be blown out as Pratt & Whitney and Airbus struggle to solve the problems.

While dialogue has been improving around the rebuilding of supply chains, not everyone is seeing dramatic improvement, with some airline executives saying that all the talk of this improvement hasn’t translated to results, notably in getting these grounded planes back in the air.

Additionally, the frustrations surrounding the GTF woes exist because the A220 remains a relatively new plane, and on paper, it offers companies such as SWISS excellent perfromance metrics. However, keeping the aircraft airborne has been the biggest challenge.

As the years progress and these aircraft continue to remain grounded, the prime of their operational life for some airlines is now being spent on the ground, forcing them to react in more extreme manners.

Airlines Removing The A220?

The more extreme reaction to dealing with the Pratt & Whitney GTF woes is to cut losses with the aircraft and look elsewhere for power to the fleet.

What could be labelled as extreme would see more onlookers argue that it makes more logical sense as the years continue with no solution to the woes and planes still being grounded, affecting airlines’ operations.

For example, a report in late September emerged that Air Austral was considering a future without the Airbus A220 due to the continued difficulties it was experiencing.

The airline is studying the 737 MAX and possibly the A320neo family as the more suitable and likely to be more reliable options moving forward, with the A220 simply not being reliable enough to continue flying for a company on a much smaller scale.

These reports followed the airline’s direct discussions with Pratt & Whitney at the 2025 Paris Airshow. Although it stated that the talks were productive and assurances were made that progress was being made to resolve the issues, this progress has yet to be confirmed, and frustrations are growing.

All this then follows Clarissa Cunz, the head of aircraft asset management at SWISS, who spoke in July about the future of the A220-100, specifically operations within the airline, given all the engine woes.

The executive concluded by saying that while new opportunities continue to present themselves, a decision to confirm the phasing out of the A220-100 has not yet been reached, but is likely being explored.

These comments and generalised reports also hint at the possibility of a future without the usage of the A220-100. While nothing has materialised as of yet, it certainly highlights the direction airlines are looking to head.