Airbus A220-300LR / XLR in the pipeline?

According to David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways and Azul Linhas Aéreas, his next venture in the airline business – Moxy – will be the launch operator of a long range Airbus A220-300.

The info was first published by aviation journalist Jon Ostrower, who attended the delivery of Azul’s first Embraer E195-E2 and spoke with Neeleman. Citing him, Jon speaks about an A220-300 with a range beyond 4000nm / 7408 km with an auxiliary fuel tank. Neeleman also said 20 of the 60 A220 ordered will have this option.

Moxy is expected to receive its first A220-300s from Airbus starting in 2021. Until then, starting next year, Neeleman wants a separate Air Operator Certificate for a U.S. airline, united under the start-up’s corporate umbrella. As Azul takes deliveries of Embraer E195-E2s — the first delivered this Thursday —  the airline expects to rotate the older first generation E-Jets out of the fleet. Under Neeleman’s notional plan, about 30 aircraft would shift to the U.S. for a combination of scheduled and charter operations.

Neeleman also said the A220LR (or XLR) could enable connections between Florida to South America, transatlantic from East Coast or Hawaii from mid-western. What does Airbus have to say about this? ” We are always working with our customers listening to their fleet needs. We don’t comment on our confidential discussions”. Hopefully we’ll find out more about a long range A220-300 at Dubai Air Show (17-21 November), where Airbus might also unveil the A350-1000ULR.