EXCLUSIVE-Airbus to kickstart pre-sales for a larger A220 jet, sources say

Airbus is poised to start offering airlines and leasing firms a larger version of its A220 regional jet with a view to launching development later this year, industry sources said.

Airbus is poised to start offering airlines and leasing firms a larger version of its A220 regional jet with a view to launching development later this year, industry sources said. The planned kickoff aims to line up enough pre-orders to justify going ahead with the roughly 180-seat A220-500 ⁠version and marks the start of proper negotiations before a potential launch announcement as early as the Farnborough Airshow in July.

Airbus officials told financiers on the sidelines of the Airlines Economics conference in Dublin that 2026 would be a "big year" for the A220 and more details would be given soon, the sources told Reuters. Any final decision to develop the so-called "simple stretch" design lengthening the fuselage would be subject to Airbus board approval.

Airbus reaffirmed ​that it is exploring all options for the A220 while ramping up production and supporting customers. "A lot of work is underway to accelerate our ability to make a decision on a stretch," ‍a spokesperson added.

Airbus bought the struggling A220 programme for a dollar in 2018 after Canada's Bombardier ran short of cash. A larger version of the 110-to-160 seat passenger plane has been on the horizon for some time.

But Airbus has been distracted by slow production, high manufacturing costs, questions over the durability of engines as well as pressure from leasing firms over wider delivery delays. In a surprise appearance at the Dublin conference on Monday, new Airbus commercial CEO Lars Wagner gave broad backing to the A220-500 concept, ⁠but reassured ‌leasing companies that he was focused on tackling industrial pressures ⁠across the board.

Two of the sources said Airbus had briefed financiers that conditional sales discussions - a critical pre-launch milestone known as "authorisation to offer" - would open in weeks and the plane could be put into development by the end of the year. The ‍sources stressed a final board decision would depend on locking in two or three marquee customers.

Potential targets include carriers like Delta Air Lines , Air Canada and Air France that already operate the A220, analysts said. All three airlines declined to ​comment. RANGE DILEMMA

A larger version of the A220 would allow Airbus to renegotiate supplier contracts and lower production costs per aircraft, which have kept the venture in the red. The upgrade aims ⁠to boost orders without adding major new costs or development time by focusing on the longer fuselage without redesigning the engines or wings.

This would involve sacrificing some of the range of the existing A220-300 but allow airlines to lower costs per seat. Analysts say it ⁠would also lift the A220 out of the regional market shared with Brazil's Embraer, where aircraft prices tend to be lower - but at the risk of cannibalising sales of its top-selling A320neo narrow-body family. The A220 has been rapidly losing ground to Embraer's E2.

The A220 and the older but more widely used A320 have very different characteristics and require separate pilot training. Boeing is expected to hit back by playing ⁠up the benefits of sticking with one compatible jet family like its 737 MAX. Speaking in New York on Thursday, a senior executive at engine maker Pratt & Whitney said it was always working with ⁠Airbus to improve aircraft.

Analysts say stretching planes has a ‌mixed record, ranging from outright flops to some of the industry's best-sellers. On paper, larger planes tend to offer airlines better economics. But typically the most successful stretches have had more investment than simply extending the fuselage, said aviation analyst Rob Morris, noting that the Boeing 737-900, for example, only started selling in ⁠large numbers when its range was extended.

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