Airbus has chosen a new name for the smaller jetliners it took over earlier this year from Canada's Bombardier. The CS100 and CS300 will now be made and marketed as the A220-100 and A220-200, bringing the naming in line with the rest of the Airbus line.
The move comes just ahead of next week's Farnborough International Airshow, a major market for aircraft makers and airlines to sign up for new orders. Airbus took over the highly-regarded but slow-selling CS line from Bombardier, which was in financial troubles, with hopes that being backed by Airbus will give it added selling oomph in the 100-150 seat market that neither Boeing nor Airbus have had planes for.
That's a potentially hot spot in the market; for airlines like Swiss, it has made it possible to profitably serve markets where larger planes have lost money; for others it is seen as a way to densify service on routes that have become too big for smaller regional jets without having fewer flights on bigger planes.
Boeing also has a move in that market; in a deal announced last week but not yet set, it is taking over Embraer's commercial airline business, which also has entries in the 100-150 seat market as well as regional jets. In both deals, production continues to be handled by the original builders, although Airbus will add an A220 line to its U.S. plant.
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