Airbus' newest jet will soon take to the skies over Wichita
When you look up to the skies around Wichita Eisenhower National Airport later this month, you may see a familiar Bombardier jet sporting Airbus' name.
That's because Bombardier's C Series passenger jet was officially unveiled as the Airbus A220 at a ceremony Tuesday in France.
The renaming of the jet comes 10 days after Airbus became the majority shareholder in the C Series Aircraft Limited Partnership. Under the arrangement, Airbus plans to establish a second production line for the plane at its plant in Mobile, Ala. The primary production line will remain in Quebec, Canada, as will the partnership's headquarters.
Airbus flew the first A220-300 sporting its new paint job from the United Kingdom to its delivery center near Toulouse for the unveiling of the new name and factory livery.
"Everyone at Airbus has been looking forward to this historic moment," Guillaume Faury, Airbus commercial aircraft president, said in a news release. "Today, we are thrilled to welcome the A220 to the Airbus family and are honored to see it wearing its new Airbus colors for the first time."
Under the new naming arrangement, the smaller C Series CS100 becomes the A220-100, while the CS300 becomes the A220-300. Airbus' other, larger passenger jets include the A320 family, A330 and A380.
Tuesday was a big day for Airbus and its new plane. JetBlue announced it had placed a firm order for 60 A220-300s with an option for 60 more. JetBlue becomes the second U.S. airline to order the plane, behind Delta Air Lines.
Airbus' A220-300 that was sporting the new paint scheme, tail number C-FFDO, originated from the Bombardier Flight Test Center on the west side of Eisenhower, an Airbus spokesman said Tuesday.
He said it should be back in Wichita in the next two weeks, with its new paint job.
But first the plane will head back to the U.K., where it will make its debut at the Farnborough International Airshow, which begins Monday.
This story was originally published July 10, 2018 at 12:20 PM.