In January 2019, David Neeleman's new startup, Moxy Airways, firmed an order for 60 Airbus A220-300s. These A220s will enter service in 2021. That means there are only two years to go before Moxy starts flying in the United States.

Moxy

Moxy is David Neeleman's latest startup airline. Previously, he has worked with JetBlue, Azul, and TAP Portugal. All three are major Airbus customers. In each case, Neeleman saw a need in the market and launched a carrier. With his expertise, it is likely that Moxy will be able to succeed.

Moxy is designed to fill a gap in flying. Instead of traditional hub-and-spoke systems, Moxy will fly point-to-point routes. Most of these connections will be to medium-sized airports in major metropolitan areas. In most cases, many airports mentioned as potential Moxy destinations are underserved by America's current carriers.

Moxy Airports
Some locations Moxy anticipates operating from. Rendering created at Great Circle Mapper

Why Neeleman wants to start Moxy

The four gigantic U.S. carriers. American, Delta, United, and Southwest, make up over 80% of the U.S. domestic market. In the case of the three major legacy carriers (American, Delta, and United), they maintain sizeable hubs that focus on connecting passengers. Meanwhile, Southwest operates a more point-to-point system, however, Southwest lacks major long-distance connections and international partners.

Moxy aims to serve medium-sized cities with comfortable aircraft and to offer connections far and wide. Moxy could shake up the market by operating nonstop transatlantic flights between secondary cities and major points in Europe. The A220 can definitely fly to Western Europe from several major points along the East Coast.

Moxy A220 order
Moxy could use the A220 to fly transatlantic routes! Photo: Airbus

The A220

Air Transport World reports that Moxy will receive their first A220 in April of 2021. That date is less than two years away! Neeleman would like to see the first Moxy flight happen in May of 2021.

The Airbus A220 was previously known as the Bombardier CSeries. Airbus took a majority stake in the program back in 2017. Since then, the A220 has logged several major orders.

The A220 differs from a traditional narrowbody aircraft. Instead of offering a six abreast seating in economy, the A220 seats five across like MD-80s and 717s. For passengers, that means fewer middle seats. If you're curious to know what it's like to be on an A220, check out our tour with airBaltic's CEO.

Overall

Moxy is set to start flying in 2021. With less than two years to go, it will be interesting to see how other carriers in the United States respond to Moxy's launch. Furthermore, we'll be waiting to see what routes Moxy flies first with their A220 aircraft.

Moxy won't be the only American carrier to fly the A220, however. Delta Air Lines was the first American operator for the aircraft and they seem to have a penchant for it.

50 years of Airbus - a reflection
Delta introduced the Airbus A220 this year. Photo: Delta Air Lines

What do you think about this latest development? Will you fly with Moxy? Let us know in the comments!