The Good, Bad, & Ugly: The Global Airbus A220 Fleet Amid PW Engine Woes
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- Опубликовано: 10 май 2023
- The Airbus A220, originally the Bombardier CSeries, has garnered a lot of praise since entering service with SWISS in 2016. Passengers love the comfortable flying experience it offers, while some airlines have noted that the type's size and range were perfect for weathering the pandemic amid low load factors. But now, in 2023, we are seeing engine issues significantly impact the A220's ability to stay active and generate revenue for airlines.
One airline has completely grounded 100% of its A220s while another carrier has about 50% of its fleet inactive. Some airlines, however, are doing just fine.
Let’s look at the global A220 fleet and see what’s going on in May 2023.
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Delta probably isn't having the same issues as others with the A220 because of their TechOps. Delta's maintenance division is considered to be the best in the world. It's also the reason they have the oldest fleet with more 757s and 767s still in service than any other airline. All their maintenance work is done in house, they don't have to ship engines off for overhaul. I recently flew on a 30 year old Delta A320 and inside the cabin you would never know how old this bird was. Updated with power outlets, PTVs in every seat back and LED lighting.
I can’t be certain but I thought most of their main line fleet have Pratt & Whitney engines and thus could give them a slight edge to troubleshoot these issues
@@jeremydee5424 Not really. The GTF is new technology and the engines aren’t made like the legacy PW’s.
Also because most of their A220 are the smaller -100 which require less thrust to get off the ground than the heavier -300. Less thrust, less wear and tear on the engine
Helps they can pick up parts from pw warehouse thats 5 miles away from them
As you said, a hotter climate, more problems! But My curiosity is about the comparison of how Embraer is faring across the globe in the same range of environments! A few yrs back a couple of of these planes were grounded in Phoenix AZ , because Bombardier said that they couldn't take off at Temp's over 117°F, but it was 121°F!
The geared turbofan was developped by Pratt Whitney Canada in Montréal (longueuil). As part of initial launch of C-Series, it also benefited from government launch aid to create jobs here as the exclusive supplier of the engines for C-Series. Fast forward a few years and the Québec government is 25% owner of Airbus Canada LP (formerly C Series Aircraft Limited Partnership CSALP) which is the company which was spun off from Bombardier. The Government of Québec has 2 goals: maintain jobs here, and try to recuperate its original investment into CSALP (whose value was halved when Airbus was gifted 50% of CSALP via the doubling of number of shares in coupany).
Creating a CFM version of the plane might increase sales and reduced exposure to the GTF problems and that would help make Airbus Canada LP share rise enough for Québec to be able to sell its 25% stake. But this would require investment by owners of the A220 (Airbus and Govt of Québec and govt of Québec isn't interested in sinking more money if the project will never result in doubling of share value so the QC govt can get its investment back). The more money QC has to sink into CSALP, the harder it becomes for it to get the total investment back. But not investing and allowing Airbus to invest for new engine sees the QC governemnt 25% stake reduced which again makes it harder for it to get its money back.
I looked at the P&W web site for press releases, and while the GTF problems are not mentioned, there are a number of MRO sites that have opened in the last year which I assume would help deal with backlog of engine refurb. It would be interesting to know if the problem is solved and is now just a question of time before maintenance backlog is done or whether actions taken by PW only slow the growth of the problem and it will still get worse.
I would be curious if the issue isn't hot weather but rather quality of maintenace between different airlines. At altitude, the tenperature doesn't change that much and engines don't run that long at ground altitude. (though perhaps very hot temps at airport might cause some metal expansion and subsequent contraction when plane rises to colder temperatures).
When the Dash-8-400 was inroduced, Scandinavian started having a lot of nose landing gear problems and legal process against Bombardier (the then owner of the aircraft type) for deffective nose landing gear. Good sleuthing by Bombardier revealed that the problems were due to bad maintenance practices by Scandinavian who got much egg on face with this and apart from paying Bombardier some penalties, ended up ordering more of them !!!
So of the problem occurs only at some airlines and not all of them, one should consider possibility of bad maintenance practices at some airlines (perhaps not realizing it needs different maintenance regime).
Jean Francois nice explanation. Became your follower . ❤
There is your problem.
I think regulators need to step in and demand P&W to halt deliveries for the GTF. This would allow P&W to focus fully on fixing the issue and not ramp up production, which P&W is more interested in.
They're treating aircraft engines like companies treat software: Deliver fast and loose at all costs and fix problems after the product is in use. That's bad enough for software, but totally inexcusable for engines that keep planes in the air!
@@peterdupuis9238 Who pays the cost of grounded jetliners then ?
Nobody is talking about how the Iraqi Airways plane in the thumbnail is an A320?
I do
because of the p&w engines
Seems to be similar to the RR Trent 1000 issues which suffered premature wear. it has taken RR years to resolve the issues and affected sales of that engine.
That is right P&W stands for "Park and Wait"..
We need CFM LEAP engine for the A220, ASAP!!!
It's too big and produce too much thrust. CFM would need to make a smaller version
It's also heavier than those powering the 737MAX .
@@mmm0404 yeah, smarter to use something similar to leap 1b. But they would probably need to redesign a large part of compressor and the turbine to produce less thrust and have better fuel economy
The cfm leap 1B
They need a CFM engine option. Maybe a downsized Leap 1b?
I hope that P&W will fix the issue very soon, or that Airbus will make it so you can't fly the A220's with just the P&W engines but that other engine options are available
CFM’s plate is completely full even if they wanted to offer an engine
Cost way too much to develop it for 2 engine types. No one is doing it with new aircraft these days
Seems like PW. Is prioritizing larger Western carriers over smaller ones. Hopefully PW gets this resolved soon.
GTF is tue best engine for single aisle full stop. Nothing is quieter or more efficient.
In order to have technological progress one needs to take some risks and learn. The GTF is here to stay and it will soon put this issue behind it.
If anyone wants to disagree that is fine but go ahead and fly the GTF first before writing it off
It's a pity those in hotter climates have to service them so often. I saw a Swiss Air A220 parked in Dublin airport in March and it looks as good as you'd expect in real life.
P and W are a disgrace and ought to be brought to task. This must be causing the airlines a huge headache. Perhaps Airbus ought to put some pressure on them to get it sorted
Airbus is part of the problem because they're taking orders for more A220s and A321NEOs than PW can keep up with. Airbus is also more interested in PW supplying them engines for production than repairing and overhauling engines on aircraft they've already sold. Ironically the record setting sales Airbus is enjoying maybe what saves Boeing from death. The 737 Max is readily available with the CFM engines. The Airbus aircraft with the PW GTF engines maybe a better overall product but they don't do airlines any good sitting on the ground.
@@khakiswag I'm not sure airbus has anything to do with taking orders too fast. The air india order delay showed how much the two thing are disconnected. Btw the a321 is also available with CFM engines
@@khakiswag Exactly! Embraer is not having nearly as many issues with PW
@@LuizHartkopf Yh, they are having very similar issues
This entire aircraft is a headache.
I think that putting this down as an A220, E2, or A320neo (all non-USA) is masking the real culprit, P&W (USA).
When the USA Boeing company experienced issues with their Trent engines fitted to the 787, there was no reluctance to lay the blame (quite rightly) squarely with the non-USA Rolls Royce.
I do remember lots of people blaming Boeing. And as someone else mentioned, recently Boeing was again being bashed for Spirit Aerosystems' problems
@archibaldhernandez5553 So do I.
I wasn't actually referring to Boeing's treatment per se, but how there appears to be a bias against non US companies.
Which of course makes the Boeing/Spirit comparison irrelevant to the point I was making as both are from the US.
We had the same when an American subsidiary of BP was responsible for a major oil spill, and BP was referred to by its old name of British Petroleum, even though this hasn't been used for some considerable time for the simple fact that following its merger with Ameco, it is no longer British, but Anglo-American.
It has always been easier to blame the foreigner.
@@neilpickup237 Yeah, I'll agree with you on that non-American bias
Sitting in jetBlue A220 right now!
Will either Airbus or Bombardier consider the LEAP 1-B to change PW1000G to power A220?
Is it possible to cfm leap join a220 engine option?
Due to the cfm leap 1b diameter 2 inches smaller than the pw gtf 1500g
It's a bit too heavy compared to PW1500G, CFM need to downsize it and lighten it even more than Leap1B
That doesn’t help the current fleet.
Iraqi AW just had a a220 stuck in tunis do to the engine and they don't know how to get it back
I’m scheduled to fly the A220 round trip Dallas-Toronto-Dallas… I hope Air Canada runs smoothly
Air Canada doesn't have grounded A220s...
@@erictremblay4940 I heard one is grounded ?
All the stats about planes on the ground do not provide information without a reference to stats for other aircraft types.
ikr
That is very upsetting, since that means airlines are leaving money on the table... P&W needs this fixed asap.
P&W probably pays huge penalties to the airlines as well, though I’ve no idea how much it covers the losses related to the planes being grounded
Not only that, but they’re sharing the profit with their crew and staff.
Airbus should try to get an engine type change. I know this is not easy, but P&W seem to be not reliable, the problem of only having one engine maker is apparent. The airfame is good, just the engine letting the A220 down.
It was a decision by Bombardier to go with just one engine.
Airbus is probably trying it’s hardest to come up with a workaround. Perhaps an A220neo using a similar spec of the CFM Leap to the one used on the A320neos.
Doubt CFM is that interested. They are completely full up themselves.
But would result in less efficency.
@@CoSmicGoesRacing WTF… the 320neo came after >20 years.
@@XX-zq4hv Not by any significant margin. CFM and PW are actually very close on that. The maintenance issues with PW far out way any savings on a 2-3% efficiency difference.
What has the engine selection to do with the aircraft?
Edit: You made me check on the issue and there indeed seems to be a very complex and very specific issue with the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan (GTF) PW1500G engines. I hope Airbus(Pratt&Whitney) can sort this out.
From what I understand Bombardier didn't have the resources (money) to get the plane certified with more then one engine option so they picked the best choice at the time. Common among smaller manufacturers, and until now not an issue for Airbus. I expect we'll hear soon enough about a second option for operators, the leap seems like an option though it's heavier and more thrust so could be engineer challenges with the mounting pylon.
It’s a bit unfair to call this an A220 issue - you should retitle it P&W issue because that’s what this is about.
There is no A220 if there isn't any engines to be had.
The rest of the plane is junk too.
Delta and Air Canada are based and operating literally next to P&W workshops.
There is no surprise they can get spare parts ahead of everyone else. And maintaining that practice is good for advertising the A220.
I have made boroscope inspection on one of the A220 operating in West Africa with just 1300 FH. Trust me i have never seen a combustion chamber area in such a state in my life
Funny thing is, spare parts don’t exist for these hunks of garbage.
OK, what was the combustion chamber area condition? Within limits or not?
That much vaunted "inventor" of the P&W Geared Turbofan is just a one man wrecking ball for the aviation industry.
The engines are problematic, KLM cityhoppers fleet consisting mainly of Embreair’s including the E2 are mostly grounded due to engine troubles with the P&W engines.
AA uses LEAP for Max and NEO
That is why the CFM Leap is better (at least on the A320NEO)
Why is there an A320 on the thumbnail btw?
I think that the A220 it is good to do range like Greenland to Iceland since its a very mid haul plane and for domasticly
Yeahh you made it.
Air Canada has a bunch of these but i dont here much from them about problems
Currently at least 5 AC A220 aircraft out of service. 5/33 grounded due to @PW Engine problems. We need more engine options for A220 aircraft @CFM @RollsRoyce
Airbus must press CFM for another engine option
CFM’s plate is full until Comac no longer wants the LEAP 1-C as the LEAP 1-A and 1-B aren’t able to be offered
Since the A220 and A320 use the same PW engines can they not strap on the LEAP engines on the A220
The A220 would need to be certified with the LEAP before entry into service.
It does not use the same, the fan diameter is quite different. Pw1100 vs 1500
They wouldnt mount to the pylons. It doesn’t work that way.
It would appear that North American airlines are being given a higher priority for maintenance since they operate the largest number of the type, and Air Baltic may end suffering the most.
Also, for a a new, modern aircraft, the service intervals seem rather strangely frequent. All in all, the A220 is still an amazing aircraft.
Swiss and Air Baltic have been flying this type for 6? 7? Years.
Certainly you are mistaken on the engine maintenance requirements
@@congresssux9766 You think I'm wrong about Airbus' own service requirements for their own aircraft?
I'm sure that there were no issues with the servicing earlier on, but the Pratt and Whitney issue with the A220, A320neo and newer Embraer aircraft are well known now.
Look it up before you debate.
The real problem is that P&W is prioritizing new production aircraft from Airbus because selling those engines to them is what makes them money - they're eating cost on these engine overhauls, especially for those that are wearing faster than anticipated.
Also, Air Baltic and Swiss have older jets and older engines that are now up for major overhauls. Newer jets ordered even by other European or Asian carriers are not suffering the same out-of-service rates: Air France for instance only has 2 planes parked.
@@GintaPPE1000 Two things:
First, the A220 production has also slowed down considerably because of engine shortage, which is delaying delivery of new aircraft. Boeing went through a phase with RR engines on the Dreamliner too. Airlines may start refusing delivery of the aircraft if P&W doesn't identify the underlying issue and fix it.
Second, it is true that Swiss and Air Baltic have the oldest aircraft, but Delta and Air Canada aren't too far behind and they seem to be doing ok. I believe that P&W is giving higher priority to some airlines than others.
In addition to these points, I do also believe that airlines that are operating in hot, dry climates are being affected more by the engine issue. Virtually all African airlines operating the type have grounded their fleets too, along with Iraq.
What do you consider “maintenance requirements?” We put oil in them and then they fly. They get serviced all the time. I work on them…they are JUNK.
To have aircraft out for a year seems odd. I wonder if Airbus is compensating airlines.
P&W are the one on the hook for compensation - not Airbus Canada
@@erictremblay4940 Hopefully !
@PW is currently suffering and the only engine option for A220. It’s high time for @Airbus to encourage other engine manufacturers @GE @CFM @RollsRoyce to expedite engine certification/ production/ supply of engines suited for A220 aircraft. The A220 is a great aircraft, much better than its competitors Embraer E195-E2. It engines deserve better reliability.
P&W they give priority to Northern America airlines, that is why Air Tanzania and Air Senegal they're looking forward to file a case against them.
Also Air Tanzania have a new orders of Boeing 737MAX which is a sign that they will not increase their A220 fleet, so this problem is starting to affect the sales of A220.
The 737 Max doesn't really compete with the A220 tho
should have bought embraers
Result of pushing engine to the limits. The engine has the highest bypass ratio on earth.
It also has the hottest combustion chambers... that's the real problem and in hot and dusty zones damage can occur around just 1000 FH
I imagine Airbus will provide a second engine option with CFM if they launch the A220-500.
Go back to the BAC One Elevens. Rolls Royce Spey reliable engines.
Why not throw a few CFM engines on them?
They wouldn’t mount to the current fleet.
Let’s hope Airbus starts offering the LEAP lol
You just repeat your self. You technically should only have a short but you stretched it out to get a 10 min video. No actual news was given I this video
What a contrast this video is with output from "WingedFlight". I wonder if Delta and Air Canada are somehow getting preferential treatment from P&W. I keep hoping to see a Delta A220 here in the US and hear the great PW1500G whale sounds, but I'm yet to see my first one.
It’s junk
Well stated and presented. This to shall pass and the GTF improvements will make it not only the most fuel efficient, quiet and environmentally friendly jet engine in history but also the most reliable.
HORSESHIT. YOU never read what's MISSING in the certification report on GTF Engine. Wait for it. Hope it don't kill a load of passengers by taking out an entire Aircraft.
Yo, why did delta refuse to answer? They have to be doing some under the table deal with P&W.
Maybe they are trying to be a sub-contractor or be a ‘source’ for maintenance…?? It wouldn’t be the first time…I mean there are a few times where I see a Hawaiian Airlines a330 parked outside the MSP hangar for routine maintenance
@@jeremydee5424we USED to have a contract with HAL to do their Mx.
I didn’t know…i used to see HA’s 330’s sitting at the MSP hangar…my bad
Curios.
Can you not use other engines from other manufacturers?
Yes. Eventually.
“Amended type certificates typically take 3-5 years to complete.”
@@rdspam Again curios. Should you not have a number of engine options from other suppliers. A220 is a very popular plane.
The pylons are different depending on the manufacturer of the engine. You can’t put a GE engine on an aircraft that comes with Rolls engines for example. Doesn’t work that way.
Lets hope they will put a LEAP engine option available as soon as possible and P&W go back as soon as possible to the drawing board
I’m 1000% sure if this was a Boeing issue people would bash thfm
No. Because the fault clearly lays with P&W. So why would you bash the manufacturer of the aircraft
Because Airbus doesn't design or build the PW1500G. Pratt and Whitney built it and they're the ones to blame.
@@MrJimheerenNah he’s right. Boeing was getting bashed for issues coming from Spirit Aerosystems not long ago
If it were engines on Boeing jets , they would have brought up the McDonnell Douglas story , sweared to never fly Boeing again and chanted " if it is Boeing, I'm not going ". Haha. The double standards
Noo you guys don’t get what I’m saying …. If Boeing had these exact issues . People would say they need to hire more engineers there gonna go outta business and this is unacceptable etc…
a very complex engine that may have poor maintenance procedures.
Embraer is laughing
Can you imagine if Boeing had bought the A220??? 🙃😉😬🙄😳
This is why the Russians didn't bother with that geared turbofan nonsense with the PD-14.
lol
I won't t(h)rust Russian engines either
Because P&W have patent for GTF....
AOG on steroids...
early
ayyyooooo u copied the title of mrwhosetheboss
no hate lov u
No, that title is a reference to a 90's movie with the same name and I've seen shitpost channels referencing that before our tech reviewer here
go first more lik go bankcorrupt thts a terrible joke lol
It is problem with P&W , end of the Airbus .
You wish! The A220 is a very popular aircraft with airlines and passengers!
@@heidirabenau511It’s gotta stop giving airlines headaches first.
@@AdriantheSpotter compared to problems 737 MAX gave them this is nothing
@@mancubwwa Except the 737 MAX hasn’t been giving airlines issues for nearly 3 years now. The A220 has given airlines problems since the beginning.
And there was nothing wrong with the MAX 8 airframe itself to begin with, the problem was pilots not knowing the MCAS was a thing, and not knowing how to override it
@@AdriantheSpotter 1) there is nothing wrong with A220 airframe either just with the engines..
2) no matter how you try to spin it, there was something wrong with MAX Avionics. and no it wasn't that pilots didn't know how to turn it off, they were not given the option
3) there were problems with MAX after and unrelated to the whole MCAS disaster.
4) yes there is something wrong with the airframe - namely that it's half a century old and stretched up to five times in a case of -10. It's a good airframe, but neither as aerodynamic nor as light as modern ones. And it's pushing it's limits.
P&W is a disaster waiting to happen. There was also those 777 200 engines disinigrating...
All major american, european and selected asian airlines dont hv any or much issues. Its mostly small time or 3rd world airbus customers.. Does anyone see a pattern here? Since boeing issues and incompetence, airbus has been acting like dicks to companies it can bully.
That’s why Delta has them sitting in the desert without engines. Keep trying.