The first Airbus A220-300 for JetBlue Airways has completed its inaugural test flight from the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley in Mobile, Alabama, the airframer said Thursday. The aircraft performed its test sequences and landed at 5:22 pm Wednesday evening. Airbus expects to deliver the first of 70 A220s to New York-based JetBlue by the end of the year.
JetBlue increased the size of its A220 order to 70 aircraft at the 2019 Paris Air Show, only six months after announcing an initial order for 60 aircraft in January 2019.
Airbus completed construction of a dedicated A220 production facility at its U.S. plant in May as it welcomed the first component assemblies destined to become an A220 for JetBlue. The 270,000-sq-ft facility, which can produce both the A220-100 and -300 versions, houses five primary assembly stations where major airframe component assemblies come together for a completed aircraft. The company began producing A220s at the Mobile plant in August 2019 using space in an existing final assembly line hangar for U.S.-built A320s and in newly-constructed support hangars.
JetBlue’s new A220-300 bears a special “Hops” livery on its tailfin; the airline has chosen a single-class cabin configuration for short-range, high-frequency connections to longer trips with its A320 narrowbodies.