As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, the A220, as various Airbus experts have said, covers a segment of 100 to 150 seats and is designed to meet the current global market demands for smaller aircraft in the skies.
The European aviation consortium Airbus presented the A220-300 aircraft in the City of Zagreb recently, emphasising that it is ideal for the post-covid era because, among other things, it is characterised by low consumption, high efficiency and has the performance of larger narrow-body aircraft.
The AirBaltic A220-300 with 145 seats of one class in the passenger cabin and a range of up to 6,390 kilometres was exhibited at the stand of Zagreb’s Franjo Tudjman International Airport (MZLZ).
Among those gathered were representatives of Croatia Airlines, which, in a recently published post-covid strategy stressed the need to renew the Croatia Airlines fleet, and the presented aircraft is one of the possible options for that move, especially since the domestic airline has Airbus craft in its fleet already and is authorised to maintain them. That in itself is great advantage for the company which is likely to struggle against the likes of Ryanair and its incredibly cheap flights to many destinations across Europe.
This particular aircraft which could become a solid part of the Croatia Airlines fleet renewal has good environmental performance with the A220-100 and A220-300, having more than 99 percent common parts.
It was pointed out that the A220 can connect Croatia with Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the east coast of the United States. AirBaltic CEO Martin Gauss said AirBaltic is the largest A220-100 user in all of Europe and the A220-300 in the world, as they currently have 31 aircraft of this type, and eight more will arrive next year.
Croatia Airlines has faced numerous complaints for many years, with huge numbers of people considering them to be outrageously expensive for what they offer, with the likes of not only British Airways but also the highly competitive Ryanair offering the same routes for a mere fraction of the price. It seems that new planes isn’t the only thing the company which has posted losses for a long time needs to be looking into, as the cheap and cheerful Ryanair makes Zagreb a stronghold.
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