The Airbus A220 Stretch, aka the A220-500, is a plane that&#x27;s stalked the industry since the C Series was launched in 2008. But it sure looks like Airbus is getting closer to bringing it to reality. Jon Ostrower, Brian Sumers and Brett Snyder talk about why it was a threat to Boeing then, but not to Boeing now.<br>We would like to thank Delight.ai for supporting The Air Show.

The A220-500, An Airplane Palate Cleanser

The Air Show

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Air Show

## Participants

- **John Ostrower** (The Air Current)
- **Brian Summers** (The Airline Observer)
- **Brett Snyder** (Cranky Flyer)

## Transcript

I'm John Ostrower, Editor-in-Chief of The Air Current I'm Brian Summers, and I write The Airline Observer And I'm Brett Snyder, author of Cranky Flyer You're listening to The Air Show The podcast where we talk about what goes on in the business of the sky But before we do that this week, I need to issue a correction from last week I made the mistake of taking President Trump at his word That he was going to save 14,000 jobs by rescuing spirit And I heard from many of you saying, where did you get that number?

Or obviously not correct He later bumped that to 18,000 when he was talking about it But the truth is less than half that number According to federal data, Spirit employed 8,713 people at the end of February And I'm just going to leave it there so I don't lose my mind again as I did last week So, John, welcome back Gentlemen, thank you for covering for me last week No vacation or fun reporting trip here Just a spontaneous water feature spreading in my basement bathroom

I'm back and thankfully so is my ceiling Did I miss anything? Has anything been unexpectedly chaotic unfolding in our beloved industry over the last seven days? No I don't think so, John At least not as far as I could tell It's cool Yeah Pretty quiet So, this week we're going to take a mental break And we're going to serve you a cool salve for the existentially crispy industry We're going to spend an entire episode talking about an airplane that doesn't yet exist

Oh God, please don't tell me we're talking about boom again No, Brett We're going to be at the other end of the airplanes that fly higher, faster, and farther We're going to be looking at the faster, better, cheaper end of the spectrum The Airbus A220 Stretch or the A220-500 as it's sometimes been called Ah, yes, John We've teased this episode for a long time Every time I go to a conference people say When is John finally going to do the episode?

I'm so glad that we're finally here But how long have we been talking about this airplane? Too long I mean, like literally, I think we've been talking about this since the aughts It's been that long This is a paper airplane that has stalked this industry Since the C-Series was launched by Bombardier in 2008 But look, I think it really looks like Airbus is getting closer to finally launching it And bringing this thing to reality

During my WSJ days, I remember an interview in 2015 with Fred Cromer Yes, that Fred Cromer of Spirit Airlines fame When he was president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft He teased the idea of a third member of the C-Series family It was that mythical CS500 But look, even a whisper about this airplane at the time Sent to chill through Boeing and Airbus It was seen as a really genuine threat Like that's 180-seat airplane Regardless of its capability Was one ...

The A220-500, An Airplane Palate Cleanser

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
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The A220-500, An Airplane Palate Cleanser

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.