First Qantas A220 revealed

Re the 29 A220's v 12 717's so the huge number of extra airframes compared to current. This is a good thing imo.

It means things like increase in frequencies on a number of routes and with the extra capacity potentially some pressure on pricing (stop laughing at me :p ). Also opening up MORE opportunities.

I'm thinking QF could really do more in a place like OOL where VA coughs all over them in mainline service. At times QF has/had scheduled 717's on routes like MEL-OOL vs 1x or 2x 737, and they had at on point this year I think 3x/4x 717 during the day. I can definitely see this being a thing. Add in ADL-OOL (I know the E190 was doing it and it got dropped, but perhaps it could return?), CBR can see a lot more service with frequency - to OOL/BNE/ADL/SYD (and more reliable on SYD), even some options like CBR-CNS or TSV. NTL is probably another place that coudl see some service improvements.

Other places would probably be Tassie - LST/HBA again SYD/MEL but also BNE, CBR, ADL could potentially work.

I'd also imagine regional WA and QLD will see improvements - places like MKY/ROK/GLT and BME/KGI come to mind.

A plus for regions too will be getting rid of the all-Y 717's to a more consistent (lol) product offering - not to mention the situations where aircraft swaps due to tech issues see a J cabin potentially coming and going on some routes.

It really will be interesting to see over the next 5+ years as to where the mix of 220 and 190's go - both replacing current 717 routes but also expenaidng service.
 
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I wonder why QF didn't aline all the rows and then place 1A as a throne seat to make 11 J seats (if space is an issue).
 
Some videos of the first flight.

Looks pretty incredible:


Nice, even in cold Canadian (?) spring light looks good. The ‘green’ roo really looks pretty special.

But apart from the livery even the airframe looks sleek and slung back - like a predator. I’ve not flown an A220 yet so looking forward to seeing this zipping around in a couple of months.

(PS the rabid found the thread, again 😉)
 
More of the current test flight. Towards the end they did a pass right along the runway:

A220 circuit.png

Top speed of 545 knots (1010 km/h) at c 21:07. Possibly a TOGA test at 22:15. 325 feet at lowest point.

1701469839802.png
 
Guess there's not much else at QF to get excited about lately.

They do say a lick of paint hides other problems.
Dying to make a crossover gag about Fawlty Towers' Mr "Lick of Paint" O'Reily and Mr Joyce... but I shall contain myself (sort of)

but seriously the A220 is a net positive for QF imo and a really good fleet decision I think. Not only to replace the ageing and ever more unreliable (sadly) 717's but to offer far more options fo the carrier. It actually should fix some problems but hardly all of them of course).

I'm really excited for the A220 era at QF tbh.
 

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