The Australia-based carrier receives its first freshly painted Airbus 220-300 variant. The airline recently ordered 29 A220 variants as part of its fleet renewal strategy. The aircraft will be used by Qantas Link, the airline’s sister company, which runs a domestic route around the perimeter of Australia.
The aircraft took a four-ferry flight from the Airbus assembly line, commencing from Mirabel to Vancouver and then to Honolulu, after hours on the ground the aircraft took skies landing to Nadi and finally to Sydney.
QantasLink A220 Operation
QantasLink is a regional airline that operates a variety of narrowbody aircraft as a subsidiary of Qantas. Aircraft such as De Havilland variants, A319, A320, B717, and Fokker 100, now has ordered 29 A220s. The group will gradually replace its 12 B717 fleets with A220 aircrafts as they arrive and have given a clear statement about their Boeing 717 fleet renewal.
The delivery of 29 A220 aircraft is expected by 2027, with six scheduled for mid-2025. The first A220 registration (VH-X4A) with the new livery ”Miniyama Kutjara Tjukurpa” arrived later this December and has started the crew training at their base, Canberra. The aircraft should be familiarized by the ground crew as well to make an efficient turnaround operation and to understand the aircraft performance.
QantasLink A220 can accommodate 137 passengers which consist of 10 business class (2-2 configuration) and 127 economy class (2-3 configuration). The A220 has a more contemporary design, a large cabin with plenty of overhead, and is significantly quieter than the A320s. The design of this variant’s cabin hasn’t been released by the company yet.
The aircraft will be used to fly domestic and international short-haul routes, connecting passengers between the Pacific and South East Asia regions. The aircraft will take over the B717 routes such as Canberra & Hobert, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Vanessa Hudson, Qantas Group CEO, said the QantasLink A220s would be a game changer for domestic and regional travel.
During a demonstration flight around Sydney, Airbus’ marketing team took Qantas’ then-CEO Alan Joyce for a tour around the aircraft; his response was “It’s a very good aircraft”.
“To me, it looks like a very good aircraft. I think the passengers would love it. It feels very quiet, that’s one thing you do notice. Even the toilets are big.”
A220 Aboriginal Artwork
Thislivery has been the favorite among AvGeeks and there have been a lot of pictures of the aircraft touching down in Sydney. Aircraft livery artwork was from the Maringka Baker, a senior pitjan tatjara artist from Kanpi in South Australia.
The artwork ”Miniyama Kutjara Tjukurpa” is a dreaming story of two sisters who traverse remote Australia together, covering a vast amount of distance to find their way home. The livery took around 100 painters, working with 130 stencils. It features over 20,000 dots and It is one of the most complex livery work Airbus has ever done.
The other A220 variants will be named after Australian Wildlife such as Koala, Tasmanian Devil, Sugar Glider, and Platypus. These aircrafts will be seen soaring the Australian skies by 2027.
What do you think about the Livery? Have you flown on A220? Feel free to comment below!
