Delta Airlines; first Airbus A220-100 of the airline soars into the sky for first time

First Airbus A220-100 of the Delta Airlines took its maiden flight from Mirabel Airport located in Quebec. The flight which took off at 2:02 pm of the local time was crewed by the A220 program testing pilots. The flight’s total mid-air time was about 2 hours and 53 minutes during which, the crew checked for the whole of the plane’s system and landed it back safely at 4:05 pm.

The flight was made after few days of the plane coming out of from paint shop. The next step for the aircraft’s testing phases will be for its pre-delivery and assembly. All the elements of this airbus’s state of the art interior will come in A220 assembly line. The first official flight by Delta Airlines from this aircraft will be in service from early 2019.

With this Airbus A220, Delta Airlines has become the first US Airline to operate an A220 and at the same time, it is the fourth airline in the world to operate A220. Other airlines that use this aircraft are as follows.

Swiss International Airline
airBaltic
Korean Airline

However, out of the previous three, Delta Airlines is the only firm customer of Airbus A220-100 as it has already confirmed its order for 75 aircraft.

The best thing about A220-100 is its fuel efficiency. The aircraft with its following state of the art features offers 20 percent less fuel burn per seat ratio as compared to its previous models.

Advanced aerodynamics
State of the art materials
Pratt & Whitney’s latest generation PW1500G Geared Turbofan engine

At the moment, Airbus A220 has confirmed orders for about 400 aircraft. It is certainly the best aircraft with a seating capacity of 100 to 150 passengers. According to an estimate, in the next 20 years, there will be at least 7000 of these aircraft all across the planet.