Airbus Won’t Launch A220-500 Yet

In June, thousands of industry professionals will assemble in Paris for the biennial Paris Airshow. An exciting week-long event that brings meaningful conversations and announcements to the forefront.

As such, speculation of deals, announcements, and more make headlines in the lead-up, none more so than the continued discussion around Airbus’ new A220 variant, dubbed the A220-500, which has seemingly been confirmed as an aircraft Airbus will progress with at some point.

Bloomberg issued a report a few days ago identifying that sources and analysts at the Bank of America noted the company might look towards the Paris Airshow as a launch point for the longer and higher capacity series.

However, Airbus has come out and expressed that these rumours are untrue and there will be no announcement for a new variant at the 2023 Paris Airshow. This is despite heavy interest in the variant and its capabilities from customers worldwide.

Talk of an A220-500 launch this coming 2023 Paris Airshow doesn’t rule out the aircraft launch in the future. However, it removes the possibility of it being imminent.

At Airbus, there is a much larger significant focus on their current internal and external issues impacting the company’s performance. Supply chains have been a massive focus for manufacturers. At the 2022 Farnborough Airshow, Airbus executives said they weren’t utilising the airshow to make flashy announcements but rather focusing on strengthening relationships with partners and ensuring they could find ways to navigate the ongoing storm that’s seen so many customers impacted.