Swiss to dismantle some A220s
Posted by Vectron383@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 30 comments
In October 2025, Swiss made a decision to park the majority of its Airbus A220-100s and use them as donors to keep its A220-300s in service. That decision was made due to the issues with the aircraft's Pratt & Whitney GTF-engines and the unavailability of replacement engines and parts. Now, the airline has announced that two of the A220-100s will not return to service and will be dismantled completely.
Swiss was the launch customer for the A220, called CSeries back in the day, and has taken delivery of nine A220-100s and 21 A220-300s. They decided to park the A220-100s as the -300 provide better economics.
According to the airline, they aren't planning to phase-out the A220 itself. The A220 isn't the only type that suffers from GTF-engine issues. Also the Airbus A320neo-family and the Embraer E2s suffers from the same challenges. Swiss currently also has five of its six A320neos and one of its seven A321neos parked.
Pratt & Whitney has said it expects the majority of the GTF-issues to be resolved by 2027. However, a retrofit of the engines of aircraft currently parked can take up to 300 days. This means returning parked aircraft back to service has a long lead time.
The current status of the Swiss A220-100s is:
HB-JBA (50010), stored at Zurich since May 2026.
HB-JBB (50011), stored at Toulouse-Francazal since April 2026.
HB-JBC (50012), withdrawn from use in November 2025, and stored at Toulouse-Francazal since January 2026 and to be dismantled.
HB-JBD (50013), withdrawn from use in November 2025, and stored at Toulouse-Francazal since January 2026 and to be dismantled.
HB-JBE (50014), stored at Toulouse-Francazal since April 2026.
HB-JBF (50015), currently active.
HB-JBG (50016), stored at Maastricht since November 2024.
HB-JBH (50017), stored at Toulouse-Francazal since May 2026.
HB-JBI (50018), currently active.
Lightning-Alina776@reddit
The a220 really feels like the perfect example of a great airframe being held hostage by supply chain and engine reality
fly_awayyy@reddit
Well also much like the 737-600 and A318 it seems the A220-300 is more desirable hence the low orders so parting it out to keep the -300s flying seems like the strategy if the -100 has a low residual value or minimal takers.
Puzzleheaded_Soil275@reddit
Am I wrong in thinking the A220-300 is a more unique offering?
A220-100 seems like it competes directly with the E195-2 and to some extent even CRJ900
vs
A220-300 is pretty much the perfect 'tweener between a regional and a 737/A320?
Igor_Strabuzov@reddit
The A220-100 has the advantage of being able to do steep approaches, Swiss bought them to fly into places like LCY and FLR, but now that the E195 E2 is certified for LCY they don’t really need them specifically,
Puzzleheaded_Soil275@reddit
A220-300 is too heavy to do the steep approaches I assume?
Aesma42@reddit
I've been to FLR a few days ago in an A220-300.
Igor_Strabuzov@reddit
FLR doesn’t have a steep approach, the issue there is the short runway and reduced take off weight, that’s why Swiss was always flying the -100 there.
Igor_Strabuzov@reddit
I don’t know the exact technical reasons but as far as i know there is no plan to get the -300 approved for Steep approaches, at least not anytime soon.
fly_awayyy@reddit
You’re certainly correct it’s pretty much a perfect A319 737-700 replacement. The fuel burn numbers are pretty wild of just how little of fuel it uses. There were work of a -500 being made but confirmed by Airbus delayed now. This would slate it self into the A320 category although with reduced range from the -300.
Imaginary_Amoeba3461@reddit
The A220-100 is also very landing weight limited, especially with an alternate compared to the 300. It’s a constant issue. Supposedly a 1,500lb increase in landing weight is in the works but we will see.
Vespajet@reddit
Even Delta cut their A220-100 orders in favor of additional 300 series.
0621Hertz@reddit
Much like how the 787-8 is also out of production.
When travel demand is as high as it is, there’s better economics with the “long” airplane.
fly_awayyy@reddit
The Stretches almost always sell better. Minimal extra cost to operate with commonality and if you can fill the seats or have some spread year round you’ve covered the cost of the plane.
ABoutDeSouffle@reddit
Sad Airbus never got around to building a bigger A380...
fly_awayyy@reddit
That would be the use case of the extreme where it would probably not do well lol. Airlines had hard enough time filling it year round as it was.
flyingforfun3@reddit
I love how typical Bombardier the A220 is. A few flights I’ve gotten ride on them they had to do a shutdown and restart. Just like the Challenger 300 and the Lear 45/75 before it. Cracks me up.
Imaginary_Amoeba3461@reddit
It also is almost as bad at intercepting a localizer as the CRJ.
The 320 is very good at intercepting one.
flyingforfun3@reddit
Haha the challenger can be lazy on a localizer too.
ReadyplayerParzival1@reddit
Can’t forget the old crj-200
ckdblueshark@reddit
I remember the Lockheed TriStar, which was similarly screwed over by engine issues.
EasyAsAyeBeeSea@reddit
Does it really make more sense to scrap them as opposed to letting them sit for a few years until engines are available?
I'm sure they've done the numbers, just seems crazy!
ABoutDeSouffle@reddit
I guess the -100 is just uneconomical for them, but I also wonder why they should have no resale value in 2-3 years.
KingSlareXIV@reddit
I doubt it is because the planes would have no resale value.
But the costs of keeping them in flying order but not making money, added to a few more years of depreciation eats into the return on selling them off.
Then compare to the alternative....you cannibalize them to keep (at any given time over the next few years) several more-profitable planes in the air and making money RIGHT NOW.
Cannibalizing offers guaranteed immediate returns, not doing so costs money now in exchange for an undetermined amount of money at some point in the future.
FJ60GatewayDrug@reddit
Plane on the ground doesn’t make money. A plane in the air does. The engines are also most of the cost of the plane, and the P&W GTFs have overhaul lead times of about a year. That’s a long time to maintain a plane so it’s ready to fly but can’t, coupled with long time to wait for an engine.
I bet the oversimplified calculation was “if we tear apart two A220-100s, we get four spare engines, and we can fly the more profitable -300s. Plus, if any avionics go down, we have the parts ready to go, keeping the more profitable -300s flying.
jks513@reddit
Using them as a parts donor keeps other planes flying. Its the difference between one plane down permanently or 3-4 down for extended times.
goovenli@reddit
Gotta say, the Swiss livery looks especially good on the A220.
yamthirdnow@reddit
I did notice when Swiss stopped sending A220-100s to LCY, likely because Helvetic’s E195-E2 has 9 more seats.
Also note that although all of Helvetic’s E2s are currently active, many had been stored for periods of around 2 years since they were delivered. Helvetic also picked up some E195s in 2023-24.
Vespajet@reddit
Egyptair sold their A220 fleet to a leasing company that has scrapped nearly every single one of them, with the help of Delta and Breeze.
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