AirAsia bringing first A220s to Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The local unit of low-cost carrier AirAsia will introduce to the Philippines its first units of Airbus A220 by 2028, bringing in single-aisle aircraft that have powerful range and wider capacity.

AirAsia Group CEO Bo Lingam yesterday said AirAsia Philippines would be retiring its A320s starting this year in consideration of how old the airline’s fleet is.

In turn, AirAsia Philippines will be welcoming the A220 by 2028, marking the first local carrier that would fly the little brother of the A320.

The A220 is designed by Airbus to match the simplicity of turboprop aircraft but with the range of single-aisle jets. Whereas turboprops can seat only 80 people, the A220 can ferry as many as 160 guests, and it can also land in smaller airports incapable of handling larger single-aisles.

Apart from this, the A220 can fly up to 3,450 nautical miles, so Lingam said AirAsia Philippines can use the aircraft for both local and regional flights. AirAsia Philippines can start looking into more experimental routes through the A220.

“The Philippines is one of those (countries) that has the old aircraft that I’m returning this year,” Lingam said.

“We are going to get A220s by the end of next year, and those will be deployed to the Philippines as well,” he added, noting Indonesia would also be receiving A220s.

Lingam said AirAsia is starting to cook up new routes for the Philippines, and the airline plans to announce them in at least three months when he visits the country.

AirAsia Philippines operates a fleet of 13 A320s, flying to domestic and international destinations. Among Philippine carriers, the airline owns the oldest fleet, with the average age of its aircraft at 18 years.

To date, there are 25 airlines globally operating A220s in their fleet. The group includes some of the world’s finest carriers like Air Canada, Delta Air Lines, Korean Air and Qantas.

As a group, AirAsia has cut base fares by five percent with jet fuel prices starting to come down, and Lingam said the airline would reduce more barring unforeseen disruptions.

However, AirAsia is postponing the maiden flight for Kuala Lumpur to London via Bahrain by a month, to Aug. 26, following operational disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict.