AirAsia Goes Big–and Wants Bigger–with Airbus A220 Order

The top-line numbers are impressive: 150 A220s to be delivered to AirAsia in the years ahead. Behind the headlines, however, are a few very interesting stories, as is often the case when Tony Fernandes is involved.

Speaking at the signing ceremony at Mirabel, where the planes will be assembled, both Fernandes and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney used the deal as an opportunity to speak beyond the deal, to politics and partnerships, in a manner that was anything but subtle.

The A220 is not just an airplane, but a symbol of Canadian perseverance and innovation.

– Sri Tan Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A and Advisor to Air Asia Group

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Build it Bigger

Fernandes shared tales of the early CSeries program, when Bombardier‘s Pierre Beaudoin was trying to convince AirAsia to buy the plane. Fernandes rebuffed those efforts noting, “I said, ‘I need you to make it a little bit longer,’ and unfortunately he didn’t, but Airbus did, and hence we’re buying it.” 

A bit later in is five minute speech that ran roughly fifteen, Fernandes recounted showing up at Mirabel “with a terrible hangover” after a night out partying in Montreal, “and the last thing I wanted to do was a test flight. But I was blown away by what an incredible aircraft it was, even in 2017.” And the, again, Fernandes mentioned the aircraft size, “The only reason we didn’t buy it at that point is we wanted it to be a little bit longer. And now you’ve done it.”

All of which is a bit bizarre, because Airbus did not make it longer. At least not yet.

Both the A220-100 and A220-300 models existed in the original program as they do today, with the same dimensions. What was not available in 2017, and which only came on the market officially at the 2025 Paris Air Show last summer, is the option to add the second overwing exits to bump the capacity up to 160 seats on board. That’s where AirAsia wants the A220-300 to be, and it will be the launch customer for that layout. It is also only possible because the original CSeries was, in fact, designed to have the extra exits added. Bombardier knew this day would come. It just wasn’t ready to put them in from day one.

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Even with the extra seats now available Fernandes is still keen on a larger option. While the 160-seat A220-300 can work for the carrier, he shared on stage that “we really hope that you will build the A220-500, which is 185 seats. That’s the aircraft we really want.” So committed is AirAsia to the larger model that Fernandes pledged, “if they build that aircraft, AirAsia will buy another 150 of those aircraft as well.”

Notably, AirAsia flies A320s at 180 or 186 seats, making the –500 a like-for-like replacement, with lower operating costs and greater efficiencies. The current A220s already cannibalized the A319neo in many scenarios. Chipping away at the A320neo, as well, is an interesting challenge for Airbus. It could improve competitive positioning against Embraer for airlines that also want the smaller models, allowing them to maintain crew and maintenance commonality across the 120-180 seat range. Would AirAsia (or others) prefer that commonality to keeping the A320neo/A321neo overlap, and commonality at the larger end of operations?

Or, perhaps, a bit of both. With a large enough fleet airlines could choose to fly both families of aircraft, splitting operations by crew bases and fleet management rather than only aircraft capacity. The number of planes AirAsia is talking about would certainly qualify.

A Bit of Fun

Carney also had some fun at Airbus‘s expense, noting that “everyone here knows it was a clean-sheet design, I know it was a clean-sheet design. I have no idea what that means.” The quip earned the chuckles it sought, and he later clarified he did, in fact, understand the concept.

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Fernandes’s version was arguably more pointed, noting that an Airbus salesman visited in 2017 to “tell me what a terrible plane [the C-Series] was.” And then “[S]ix months later, when Airbus took over this program, the same man came to see me and brought another presentation to say ‘This is the greatest aircraft Airbus has ever made.'”

Fernandes laughed. The crowd mostly laughed and applauded. Turns out driving a competitor into bankruptcy to pick up the pieces for pennies on the dollar is something to be celebrated. And, yes, that’s how business runs sometimes. But it sure does seem like Airbus got away with less-than-upstanding behavior a decade ago en route to where it is today.

A Bilingual Affair

Hosted outside Montreal, the event was bilingual, including an opening statement from Fernandes. His accent is terrible, and he stumbled through some of the words. But he did it, and earned a lot of respect from the team in Mirabel, those who will ultimately be building the aircraft.

Carney switched between English and French throughout his speech, as expected for the Prime Minister speaking in Quebec. He ended his speech, which touched on the highlights of the C-Series development and the A220 in the decade since Airbus bought it as delivering an economy “plus forte, plus indépendent, et plus résilient. Une Mirable forte, un Quebec fort, un Canada fort pour le bénéfice de tous” (stronger, more independent, and more resilient. A strong Mirabel, a strong Quebec, a strong Canada, for the benefit of all). It was a strong finish in many ways.

Playing Politics

Aircraft order have always been somewhat political. This one absolutely was, right down to the massive staging in Mirabel for the announcement. Both Carney and Fernandes took shots at the current political climate.

As with the other comments, Fernandes was more blunt, both in admiration and admonishment. Fernandes applauded Carney’s leadership, describing the power a mid-sized country can bring to bear. He was perhaps somewhat envious of Carney’s success in that role, one he believes the ASEAN countries should similarly look to succeed at. Carney, similarly, talked of partnerships and trust, building relationships that last.

Both sides are proud that all the aircraft for the order will be built in Canada, eschewing the Mobile, Alabama FAL option.

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Ultimately, the deal gives AirAsia the aircraft it needs to increase frequencies and build into a multi-hub, network carrier operation while maintaining its U/LCC roots. Whether that pivot proves successful is another question. But the carrier now has a fleet plan to find out.