Passengers love the 2-3 layout of the Airbus A220, as evidenced by the twinjet’s remarkable Net Promoter Scores. But there is one niggling issue with the cabins flying today: the pivot bins don’t gobble up enough bags, and they require crew members to give them a bit of a push to close.
Now, as Airbus positions the A220 as an ideal candidate for low-cost carriers that require rapid aircraft turnaround times, the European airframer is preparing to start fitting XL bins with flip-up lids to the A220 — enabling stress-free boarding as the bins can support one bag per passenger.
Air Canada will be the first to receive a new A220 with XL bins, once Airbus’ cutover is complete and the feature is a linefit standard.
“We’re going to introduce these XL bins. From now on, it’s going to be standard. The first delivery is just around the door, coming weeks or months,” Airbus head of single-aisle market development Christian Kley said during a recent media event at the airframer’s A220 final assembly line (FAL) in Mirabel, Québec.
“And basically, what these XL bins do is they give you 20% more volume, which translates into 15% more bags. When I travel on a single-aisle aircraft, European flight, North American flight, I think actually my biggest stress is, am I going to have to check in my bag? Am I going to be running around the aircraft, back and forth, putting my bag somewhere?” With that, it basically goes away.”
Passengers and crew are not the only ones who will benefit from the new XL bins. “It also improves turnaround time, and turnaround time is money,” Kley noted.
“It improves your operational robustness,” he continued, “so you have less delays during the day. And you even have, with the extra space, the opportunity for more ancillary revenues.”
Airlines might elect to charge for more carry-on bags, which is an especially pertinent consideration for low-cost carriers. AirAsia, for example, in May placed an order for 150 high-density A220-300s.
“So, we went out to test the market, just do the airlines really want this, and the answer was clearly, ‘we want it standard,'” Kley said.
The new larger bins can also be retrofitted to existing A220s in the world fleet, with the Airbus executive assuring, “it’s retrofitable as well. So, I think you’re going to see this coming into the market starting second half this year.”
Producing the new XL bins for the A220, Diehl Aviation has been industrializing the product at its Laupheim, Germany headquarters, company CEO Dr. Jörg Schuler told RGN at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg.
Manufacturing work is ultimately expected to transfer to a new facility in Querétaro, Mexico, he said, and training is underway there.
While Dr. Schuler is hopeful of a 2027 go-live date for A220 XL bin production in Querétaro, he stressed the need to first “mature” and “stabilize” the line.
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Featured image credited to Jason Rabinowitz
