Airbus delivers A220 jet to Delta, hoping to bring venture back to black

MIRABEL, Que. - Airbus SE delivered its first A220 aircraft to Delta Air Lines Inc. on Friday, the first airline in North America to buy the jet formerly known as the Bombardier C Series.

Bombardier chief executive Alain Bellemare says Airbus can lend the plane greater scale and acknowledged that the C Series led his company on a "challenging journey."

Guillaume Faury, Airbus's president of commercial aircraft, says the European plane-maker aims to cut supply costs in order to restore the money-losing jetliner program to profitability.

The European company acquired a majority 50.01 per cent stake in the C Series effective July 1, leaving Bombardier with 31 per cent and its name stripped from the jet series, but poised to benefit as a minority owner.

Delta's A220 fleet is slated to reach four this year and roughly two dozen in 2019.

Airbus says it will start producing A220s for the U.S. market at a new plant in Mobile, Ala., starting in 2019, with deliveries coming a year later. The 100-to-150-seat jet is already in operation at three other airlines.

(TSX:BBD.B)

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