Montreal headquartered Air Canada has decided to delay its brand new Airbus A220 introduction by three days. Originally the Quebec-made single-aisle narrowbody A220-300 was set to make its inaugural revenue-making flight on January 16th, 2020.

According to the aviation website, The Points Guy, the service from Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) to Calgary International Airport (YYC) is being postponed by three days.

Now commencing on January 20th, 2020 the first Air Canada A220 will make the four and a half hour flight between Quebec and Alberta once a day.

The Air Canada A220 first flight will be from Montreal to Toronto

At present, the inaugural flight for the Bombardier built C Series medium-range jet airliner will be on Sunday, January 19th when it will fly between Montreal and Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ).

The shift in venues is due to a delay of the Montreal to Calgary route that will see the A220 operate on the 330-mile commuter hop as Air Canada Flight 481 on select Sundays.

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The Air Canada A220 has 137 seats. Photo: Air Canada

This new twin-engine jet is the first of an order of 45 with Airbus that Air Canada plans to deploy on its North American routes.

After the initial Montreal to Calgary route, the 137 seat passenger jet will feature on flights between Montreal and New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) from March until May.

Starting May 1st, 2020, Air Canada will deploy the A220-300 on a new non-stop service between Montreal and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and from Toronto to Silicon Valley’s Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport(SJC) starting May 4th, 2020.

Delta is already flying the A220-100

Air Canada is not the first airline to fly the A220 in North America with Atlanta based Delta Air Lines flying the smaller A220-100 version of the aircraft since February of this year.

The Canadian national flag carrier will, however, have the distinction of being the first North American airline to operate the larger A220-300 variant of the popular plane.

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Air Canada has ordered 45 A220s for its fleet. Photo: Air Canada

In what Air Canada calls a best-in-class customer experience for flights within North America, the Air Canada A220-300 has 12 business class seats and 125 economy class seats.

Of the aircraft, Air Canada says it offers wider-than-average seats, ample aisle access and plenty of overhead storage.

Besides the wider seats, passengers say they enjoy the big windows and the lower noise levels that help to contribute to a more pleasant flight experience.

Staff at Simple Flying like the A220

Every seat on the Air Canada A220-300 comes complete with its own entertainment screen as well as power sockets, USB ports and high-speed WiFi provided by the Gogo 2Ku service.

The staff at Simple Flying really like the Airbus A220, and in the case of content manager Tom Boon prefer the aircraft over Boeing's 737. If you would like to read why Tom likes the plane read about his flight on an airBaltic flight between Riga International Airport (RIX) and London Gatwick by clicking on the link.