BOMBARDIER staff in Belfast have been boosted by new orders for one of its planes.
It was confirmed yesterday that start-up US airline, Moxy has signed a firm order with Airbus to purchase 60 A220-300 aircraft, the wings of which are made in Belfast.
The order was completed in the final week of December and Airbus will produce the larger A220 series aircraft primarily at a new US assembly facility in Mobile, Alabama. Construction of that plant, to be located adjacent to the existing Airbus A320 assembly facility, will begin later this month.
Reflecting on the latest deal Airbus chief commercial officer, Christian Scherer said:
"Moxy has its sights set on the future, so I can’t think of a better aircraft to put into their fleet than the A220.
"We believe the A220 really is the future of this segment of the market, and the flying public will know from the minute they set foot onboard that they’re experiencing the best our industry has to offer.”
Moxy is the new airline venture led by David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways, which yesterday firmed up an order for 60 A220-300 planes, agreed in July.
The order was completed in the last week of December and construction is also set to be carried out at the new Alabama assembly facility.
Previously known as the Bombardier C Series, before Airbus acquired a majority stake in the Canadian planemaker, around 1,000 of Bombardier's 4,000 staff in Northern Ireland work on the A220 project.
To date the A220 has an order book of more than 500 aircraft. Purpose built for the 100-150 seat market it is estimated to represent at least 7,000 aircraft over the next 20 years.
