Air Canada's first Airbus A220 has taken to the skies on its maiden test flight. This is the first of forty-five additional aircraft to begin delivery in 2020 onwards, Air Canada will be using the aircraft on short-haul domestic routes as well as some operations internationally to the United States.

The first of many A220s has flown its first test flight. Photo: Air Canada

What are the details?

Just this morning Airbus posted a tweet of the first Air Canada Airbus A220-300 taking to the skies in Mirabel, Quebec.

The aircraft took off from the Bombardier Airbus facility and circled around the region testing various functions of the aircraft. Unlike other A220s that are built by Airbus, because Air Canada is not a US airline they don't actually need to finish the aircraft down at the Airbus Mobile Facility (this is to class the aircraft product as a domestic product). This will infer that Air Canada will receive the aircraft a little bit faster as it can be finished in Canada and less than an hour flight from their new hub.

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Mirabel is home to the A220 FAL. Photo: Airbus

What is it like onboard?

The A220-300 aircraft will be configured to carry 137 passengers. Air Canada plans to operate the A220 in a two-class configuration, with 12 business class seats in a 2-2 layout and 125 economy seats in a 2-3 configuration.

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The cabin of the Air Canada A220. Photo: Air Canada

Every seat will have USB power as well as inflight entertainment.

The A220, of course, is a popular aircraft for passengers, with its high ceilings, big windows, mood lighting, and excellent pressurization. And in some models, there is a window in the bathroom.

Air Canada plans to use the aircraft to connect its east coast hubs with US west coast cities, such as Montreal to Seattle and Toronto to San Jose. They will also be using the A220 for domestic routes within Canada, adding frequencies to in-demand routes. The aircraft will fill in an important gap in the current fleet of Air Canada, which has also suffered from the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX.

We should see the first service take flight in early 2020, specifically, the aircraft will see action on the 16th January, domestically from Montreal to Calgary. This will operate some 11 times a week, with additional frequencies added from the 5th March onwards. The 2nd route of the aircraft Montreal to Toronto will be added from the 19th of January. The first international route will see the aircraft fly from Montreal to New York in March.

What do you think about this news? Are you excited to fly onboard the new Air Canada A220?