Formerly known as the Bombardier CSeries, the Airbus A220 is quickly establishing itself as a favorite among both airlines and their passengers when it comes to lower-demand short-haul routes. The twin-engine narrowbody family currently consists of the A220-100 and A220-300 variants, with data from Airbus showing that 67 A220-100s and 312 A220-300s have been delivered to customers thus far.
Europe is a particularly fertile ground when it comes to A220 operations. Indeed, according to present scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that nine different airlines scheduled flights to and from European destinations with the type in December 2024. This included Romanian carrier Animawings, which was recently in the news after receiving its first A220-300.
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All in all, the nine operators flying the Airbus
A220 to and from Europe in December scheduled a grand total of 15,453 flights with the type on these routes. Collectively, these services offered 2,171,133 seats and 1,271,706,746 available seat miles, compared to 13,255 flights, 1,876,811 seats, and 1,113,016,625 available seat miles in December of 2023. Without further ado, let’s examine the top operators.
While Swiss International Air Lines, otherwise known in short simply as SWISS, does not have the largest Airbus A220 fleet in Europe, its use of the type on very short sectors means that it is able to operate more flights than any other operator. In December 2024, the Basel-headquartered 
Star Alliance
member scheduled 4,213 flights with the Airbus A220, offering 590,995 seats and 300,852,915 ASMs.
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Cirium’s data for the month shows that the route between the airline’s Geneva (GVA) base and London Heathrow (LHR) was the leading corridor for A220 operations, with 147 outbound and 148 inbound flights scheduled. SWISS also favors the A220 on the domestic route from Geneva to Zürich (ZRH), with 126 inbound and 125 outbound flights. Completing the podium is Zürich-Copenhagen (80 rotations).
An interesting fact about SWISS’s Airbus A220 fleet is that it operates both the smaller A220-100 and the larger A220-300 variants of the popular single-aisle twinjet. According to fleet data from ch-aviation, the Swiss flag carrier presently has nine A220-100s at its disposal with an average age of 7.8 years old, as well as 23 A220-300s (two leased from airBaltic) which are 6.7 years old on average.
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Much like its narrowbodies from the Airbus A320 family, SWISS’s A220 series aircraft are fitted with a flexible two-class seating configuration that can accommodate varying business class loads. This is done by blocking one seat on each side of the aisle and placing a dividing curtain in a location that optimizes seating relative to demand. According to fleet data from aeroLOPA, SWISS’s A220s have:
Just across the Swiss border, French flag carrier Air France is also a keen operator of aircraft from the Airbus A220 family. However, unlike its Swiss counterpart, the 
SkyTeam
founding member only operates a single variant of the type, with its model of choice being the larger A220-300. The airline currently has 40 of these in its fleet at an average age of 1.8 years old, as well as another 20 on order.
In December 2024, Air France scheduled 3,748 flights with its Airbus A220-300 twinjets, offering 528,468 seats and 268,656,042 available seat miles in the process. Interestingly, despite ranking second in terms of the number of flights scheduled, these figures would see the French flag carrier place third when it comes to the other two metrics, once again on account of its relatively short routes with the type.
This is underlined by the fact that all three of Air France’s top destinations with the Airbus A220-300 in terms of flights operated were located in countries close to its French homeland. Indeed, flying out of the carrier’s base at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), its top routes with the type served London Heathrow (184 return trips), Geneva (166 return trips), and Berlin Brandenburg (105 return trips).
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Similarly to how things work with the Airbus A220 over the French border at Swiss International Air Lines, Air France also configures its A220-300s in a flexible two-class configuration. These aircraft have 148 seats onboard, and the C and E seats are blocked off in the business class cabin. This can be done as far back as row eight, meaning that the maximum business class capacity is 23 seats.
When it comes to European operators of the Airbus A220, Latvian flag carrier airBaltic may well be among the first that springs to mind. While the airline doesn’t have the largest portfolio of planes overall, it stands out from the crowd for the fact that its 49-aircraft fleet consists entirely of A220s. The airline’s variant of choice is the A220-300, and it has received 49 (4.3 years on average), with 41 more on order.
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Cirium shows that airBaltic scheduled 3,745 flights with its Airbus A220-300s in December 2024, with these services collectively offering grand totals of 543,025 seats and 462,047,575 available seat miles. The latter of these is the highest figure among any European operator of the Airbus A220, with the carrier’s more distant location in northeastern Europe meaning that its routes are generally longer.
That being said, airBaltic’s most frequently served routes with the Airbus A220-300 are all relatively close to home, and connect major airports in and around the Baltic region. The corridor from Tallinn (TLL) to Riga (RIX) comes out on top, with 124 outbound and 123 inbound flights, followed by Vilnius (VNO) to Riga (116 outbound and 114 inbound). Riga to Helsinki (HEL) completes the podium, with 110 rotations.
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The way in which airBaltic configures its A220s is similar to the operators examined thus far, with a flexible two-class setup that allows for the accommodation of varying business class loads. According to aeroLOPA, some airBaltic A220-300s have 145 seats onboard, while others have 148. Going forward, the airline is reportedly working to convert aircraft with the former configuration to the latter.
Italian flag carrier ITA Airways, which is set to swap its SkyTeam membership for the Star Alliance in the coming years as part of its acquisition by the Lufthansa Group, is the fourth and final European airline with more than 1,000 Airbus A220 flights in December 2024. The carrier scheduled 2,877 sectors with the type during the month, offering 391,655 seats and 155,898,832 available seat miles.
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The airline flies both the smaller A220-100 and the larger A220-300 variants, with nine A220-100s in its fleet at an average age of just 0.6 years old. Going forward, it plans to add to this part of its operations with outstanding orders for four more A220-100s. As for the A220-300, ITA Airways currently has 10 examples at its disposal with an average age of 1.4 years old, and orders for another six units.
As has been a consistent trend throughout Europe’s largest operators of the Airbus A220, ITA Airways configures these aircraft with flexible two-class layouts. Its A220-100s have 125 seats onboard, compared to 148 for the A220-300. Data from aeroLOPA shows that, on both variants, the seats onboard have a standard pitch of 30 inches and a three-inch recline. In terms of width, they are 18 inches wide.
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ITA Airways’ top route when it comes to coverage from the Airbus A220 is the domestic corridor between Milan Linate (LIN) and Rome Fiumicino (FCO), with 165 outbound and 167 inbound flights scheduled in 2024. Other internal routes with more than 100 monthly A220 rotations include Rome to Genoa and Trieste, and Milan to Catania. Internationally, Milan to London City (LCY) has 130 rotations.
The drop to fifth place in the rankings of European A220 operators by scheduled flights is considerable, with Bulgaria Air having only scheduled 514 sectors with the type in December 2024. These services offered 66,358 seats and 49,408,432 available seat miles, with Bulgaria Air also ranking fifth across Europe by both of these metrics. However, it is a rather interesting operator in terms of seating.
Indeed, the carrier stands out for the fact that, according to Seat Maps, its A220s have a dedicated business class section with 2-2 seating rather than the usual 3-2 layout with the middle spot blocked out. On the A220-100, of which it flies one, there are eight business class seats and 110 in economy, while the larger A220-300, of which it flies three, has 135 economy seats behind the eight in business class.
The only route with an average of more than one return flight a day when it comes to Bulgaria Air’s Airbus A220 operations is the domestic corridor between Sofia (SOF) and Varna (VRN), with 78 round trips scheduled in December 2024. Internationally speaking, the carrier’s top A220 routes from Sofia include Amsterdam Schiphol (30 rotations), Paris CDG (29), Prague (18) and Madrid Barajas (also 18).
