BermudAir is poised to become an Airbus A220-300 operator after announcing plans to take delivery of the ten-strong firm order booked earlier this year by its affiliate company, Odyssey. Deliveries are slated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027.
The ‘premium leisure’ carrier, which presently operates a handful of Embraer E-Jets, says it will use the A220-300s to support its next phase of growth, including to connect more communities across Bermuda, the Caribbean, Central America and North America.
But the A220-300s will also ultimately replace the E-Jets. “The E-Jets will continue to be used for several years and gradually be phased out,” BermudAir confirms to Runway Girl Network.
Configured with 135 seats, BermudAir’s A220-300s will feature three classes of service, including a dedicated Premium Economy section.
Management is also presently studying the Safran recliners aboard Breeze Airways’ A220-300s as a contender for its up-front product, BermudAir reveals to RGN. “We’re looking at the Safran seats that Breeze uses.”
The roomy Safran recliners that serve as Breeze Airways’ Ascent first class style product are hugely popular with passengers, offering calf rests that take the strain off of weary legs.
RGN readers might remember Odyssey. Well over a dozen years ago, the novel startup became one of the very first customers for the smaller Bombardier CSeries, the CS100 that pre-dates Airbus’ acquisition of the program and its subsequent rebranding as the A220.
Run by Adam Scott — the entrepreneur who later founded BermudAir and serves as its CEO — Odyssey planned to launch 40-seat, all-premium CS100 service between London City and New York to compete with British Airways’ all-premium A318 service.
Fondly known as Baby Bus, the BA service didn’t survive the COVID pandemic. And Odyssey’s own all-premium CS100 dream was never realized. (Interestingly, Airbus recently revealed it has begun preliminary work to offer lie-flat suites on the A220 including to support multi-class and all-premium layouts.)
In March of this year, Odyssey formally booked an order with Airbus for ten A220-300s and ten options. That order remained undisclosed until today, when BermudAir and Airbus announced the deal at the Farnborough International Airshow.
A firming up of the ten options is in the cards, with BermudAir confirming it “plans to add up to 20 A220 aircraft by 2030.”
Explaining how the BermudAir/Odyssey business will be structured, BermudAir tells RGN:
Odyssey won’t be a lessor. While they are the contract holder and BermudAir is the operator, the two companies will be restructured into an aviation company so that they will basically be two halves of a whole.
Singing the praises of the A220, Adam Scott touts the twinjet’s “exceptional” range, operating economics, and performance at constrained airports, as well as the “outstanding” passenger experience of the 2-3 configured aircraft, which features 18.5″-wide seats.
Airbus will shortly start factory-fitting new, ultra-spacious XL flip-up bins to the type, as opposed to the pivot bins now delivered to customers. These will increase carry-on volume by 20%, notes BermudAir, which will take its A220-300 deliveries long after the cutover takes place.
BermudAir CEO Adam Scott and Airbus’ Benoît de Saint-Exupéry, as well as Airbus EVP Sales of the Commercial Aircraft Business, at the Farnborough International Airshow today. Image: BermudAir
“After almost three years of operations, BermudAir has quickly established itself as the premier airline serving Bermuda and the Caribbean, to and from North America, supported by a differentiated onboard product and 70+ Net Promoter Score. The A220’s spacious, quiet and comfortable cabin is perfectly aligned with the experience our guests have come to expect from us,” Scott says.
BermudAir’s announcement falls hard on the heels of a disclosure made by Airbus and Pratt & Whitney during the airframer’s A220 media update in Mirabel, where executives confirmed that the reliability issues encountered by the geared turbofan (GTF) engines have largely been resolved for the A220.
By the end of this year, they expect “zero” aircraft on ground (AOG) issues due to engine spares not being available, and any aircraft delivered from 2027 onward will be at the benchmark for operational reliability, with a five- to six-year time on wing for the engines.
This disclosure had no bearing on BermudAir’s decision, the airline says, noting that Odyssey was an early CSeries customer.
BermudAir expects to take 20 A220-300s by 2030. Image: BermudAir
Related Articles:
- Airbus cutover to XL bins on A220 benefits airlines and passengers
- Airbus enters preliminary work to offer lie-flats on the A220
- Charmed by BermudAir service though Aisle Class remains elusive
- Airbus assures A220 stretch will retain five abreast if it launches
- Smartwings surprises with weird yet wonderful A220 service
- AirAsia CEO to Airbus: build it and we’ll also buy 150 A220-500s
- From the archive: Start-up could take CSeries on long-planned odyssey
Featured image credited to Airbus
