JetBlue is the latest airline to take delivery of the Airbus A220. JetBlue took delivery of its first A220-300 on December 31, 2020. The airline has now revealed what the interiors of these planes will look like, as well as the first regularly schedule route to get the plane, and there’s a lot to look…
Continue reading: A Look At The New JetBlue Airbus A220-300
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
are they keeping the orange on the leading edge of the wing? that would look so cool!
With slack demand in the near term this jet could be the right capacity for a lot of routes.
Does it have HEPA filtration?
@johhny
All aircraft have HEPA filters. This was always a thing pre-covid even.
DELTA'S FLEET IS THE OLDEST IN THE INDUSTRY!
767-400
AND 757 TO EUROPE?
NO THANKS!
DELTA WILL NOT GET NEW PLANES FOR A LONG TIME!
Lucky: why do you love this plane?
Am I the ONLY PERSON not drinking the kool-aid on Jetblue's A220?!? Yes, it's a new plane, which is always nice, but it's replacing B6's E190 which is--by far--the most comfortable economy seat on any US airline. Also:
1. This plane adds 40 seats to the plane it's replacing. So enjoy longer boarding, deplaning and wait for your checked bags.
2. This plane adds a MIDDLE SEAT on one side. I don't care that it's a whopping 1" wider, no one wants a middle seat!
3. We still don't know the layout, but without a doubt it won't have the extremely generous legroom of the E190 (core seat: 33" that feels even bigger, and 37" in EMS). The AirBaltic variant has 145 seats at 32". I'm sure B6 will remove the front closet & cook area, but that's only going to add 20" more space at most...and with 5 rows of EMS each getting at least 5" more, that means the core seats must have less legroom than E190.
Bottom line: B6 E190 flights are amazing because with only 100 pax, they board in ~15 minutes. The seats are wide & legroom is best in economy. The bathrooms aren't cramped like almost every other narrowbody (although I get that A220 bathrooms are supposed to be nice). The only downside to E190 is the overhead baggage bins. But replacing them with a plane that adds 40% more passengers, a middle seat and what's sure to be less legroom isn't an improvement!
@Sean - As someone who has flown an a220 before (Delta -100), and regularly flew on B6's e190's for years, I can assure you this will be a massive step up, middle seat be damned.
@John Luffred - Delta has been adding new planes to their fleet continuously for years, what are you talking about?? 737-800s, A220-100s, A350s and A330 neos. Also the 767-400s aren't that old, and even the oldest planes in Delta's fleet feel fresh and new. I flew a 21 year old 757-200 last week and it felt like it was at most a few years old...
Its a new plane mostly white with artwork on the tail and engines. No big deal. Just like the 100 other airlines with the same
Now that JetBlue is getting these spiffy A220's, maybe they would see fit to launch more point-to-point flights to/from D.C. (IAD, DCA, BWI). D.C. passengers wanting to fly to the west coast basically have to connect through Boston or New York, which is basically going backwards.
Generally the leading edge of the wing is painted black to make it easy for pilots to identify ice buildups on the wing.
@Sean, A220's have pivot bins so overhead luggage space won't be an issue and the Lavs are awesome, space and design wise
@Kevin B, that's not correct. The only black leading edge you will see on an aircraft are mainly turboprops that utilize and inflatable boot system for anti-icing. They are rubber and inflate and deflate inflight to break up any ice accumulation. This is not utilized on modern jets.
@Chris Apparently HEPA wasn't available on "all aircraft"
"While many aircraft types can be fitted with the filters, for much of the pandemic, Embraer’s smaller jets, including the ERJ-135, ERJ-140 and the ERJ-145, had yet to receive the enhanced system. However, on Nov. 26, the company released a Service Bulletin that allows for the installation of HEPA filters on all of its ERJ 145 aircraft." https://airlinegeeks.com/2020/12/02/embraer-develops-hepa-filtration-kits-for-installation-on-erj-145-aircraft/
It's worth noting that B6' delivery schedule for the A220 is for a handful for the next several years and then their deliveries will pick up in several years. They will be fairly rare until then.
Also, United has the oldest fleet among US airlines.
I like it when aircraft designers gives airlines no choice to reconfigure seats with less than 18" in width. The A220 is a fine example of not having any of Boeing's 17" width BS.
A reminder that Airbus did not design this plane.
Bombardier did under the C Series label.
@ Sean. I am with you here. JetBlue’s E190 are close to perfect, passenger-wise. You get the conveniences of a regional jet (fast boarding/deplaning, fewer passengers) with the comfort of the big planes. The 2X2 seat configuration, done properly as in the E190, cannot be beat. If you prefer 3X2, I think you have never been stuck in a middle seat for 3.5 hours. No thank you. The cost savings are considerable, so it makes sense for JetBlue. Not so much for passengers. As noted above, this is a 100% Bombardier design. The same airplane maker that gave us the CRJ 200, responsible for more deep vein thrombosis, muscle injuries and back pain in passengers than any other airplane in history.
As stated - this is a Bombardier C300 manufactured by Airbus. They bought the plane and the name for $1 (or so).
I am furious with Trudeau for forcing the sale of this wonderful Canadian design by not supporting Canadian high tech. The fool should put this on his resume as he takes credit for everything that Canada is doing wrong these days.
Still angry with Diefenbaker for cancelling and burning the Avro Arrow in favour of Kennedy's Bomark missile scheme. But then, all the Avro engineers went to NASA and put men on the moon.
Vegan leather is far superior for the planet.
Excited to see what routes this plane will be used on. I have a feeling that Jetblue will really leverage this plane in Boston to launch those long thing routes in needs to in order to remain uber-competitive.
Normally I don't pay too much attention to little things like "vegan leather", but agreed with the comments above. Jeeze, that is a perfect example of how hyper-sensitive people are today. Give me a break...
+1 for Azamaraal for managing a reference to Dief the Chief
Some of us are really old:-)
@Azamaraal @derek Blame Trudeau? You should be blaming Trump and his administration. I don't think Trudeau is perfect, but he really isn't at fault here.
Bombardier had no choice but to sell to Airbus once the US bowed to Boeing and slapped a 300% tariff because Boeing was afraid it would hurt them (even though they no longer make a plane in that size) and accused Bombardier of dumping. Yes, eventually most of that tariff was struck down, the damage had been done. By selling to Airbus, the C-Series/A220 could then be made in the US in Alabama and avoid many of those tariffs.
If you really wanted it to stay with Bombardier and Canada, you should have convinced Air Canada and WestJet to purchase more of the aircraft. Having Delta be the launch customer in the Americas was a missed opportunity Canadian airlines could have jumped on.
Ben this is the 3rd variant of an article on this topic and it's really unclear what the new content is!
So please consider in future posting these as new articles.
Sean. You are correct on your projections on the A220. I just took red-eye from Portland to Boston in the 2nd row with the 2 seat side and the width was very good w armrest up, the legroom is good but not as good as on their other A320 series jets. The cabin crew were not uniformly friendly and were brusk w overhead bin rules which on this full flight took a very long time to board. They did well with cabin dimming with few announcements on overnight flights. It’s worth it on balance for non-stop access on thinner or shorter routes and fuel efficiency but full-size plane may also have filled and been a more comfortable trip.