Swiss has taken the drastic step of grounding its fleet of nine Airbus A220-100s to serve as engine donors to keep its A220-300s flying because of ongoing availability issues with the jets’ Pratt & Whitney PW1500G engines.
Zurich-headquartered Swiss was the launch operator for the A220-100, taking delivery of its first example (HB-JBA) in 2016 when the programme was still under Bombardier’s ownership and known as the CSeries. The carrier now operates nine A220-100s and 21 of the larger -300s.
But disclosing the grounding during the presentation of its third-quarter results on 30 October, chief financial officer Dennis Weber said Swiss currently has “more than 10 aircraft” out of service due to problems with the PW1500Gs, reports FlightGlobal’s partner outlet AeroTelegraph.
Those engines – much like the PW1100Gs that power some A320neos – have been showing premature wear and therefore need to be overhauled, leading to unplanned downtime.
Swiss will now ground all nine A220-100s immediately, using their engines as a spares pool to keep the A220-300s flying and maintain operational reliability. “It also reduces fleet complexity,” Weber says.
Previously, Swiss relied on the A220-100s to operate flights to London City airport, due to its steep approach constraints. However, wet-lease partner Helvetic Airways can now serve that airport with its Embraer 190-E2 and 195-E2 fleet.
Grounding the A220-100s is not a short-term measure, Weber stresses: “It will certainly last about one and a half years,” he says.
Nonetheless, Swiss intends to keep the smaller variant and has ruled out selling the jets or exchanging them for additional A220-300s.
EgyptAir previously sold its A220 fleet on the back of PW1500G engine problems, while others like Air Austral have indicted they are planning to do so.
