Croatia Airlines’ second Airbus A220-300 aircraft, leased from the Air Lease Corporation, is set to be delivered before the end of the year after the jet completed test flights at Montreal’s Mirabel Airport. The jet, currently bearing the temporary Airbus test registration C-FPBE, before being re-registered as 9A-CAI, performed an engine run and taxi check, as well as a test flight lasting over two hours on December 6 and 10. Croatia Airlines previously noted it anticipates for the aircraft to be delivered this month. Airbus typically conducts one to several test flights, depending on performance, prior to delivery to the customer.
Based on its current schedule, the aircraft, which will be named “Split”, is tentatively scheduled to enter into revenue service for the airline on the morning of January 3, 2025, with one A220 operating the Dubrovnik – Zagreb route, while the other will be deployed between the Croatian capital and Brussels at the same time. On average, the airline has scheduled for each of its two A220s to maintain six operations per day or three return flights throughout January. Adjustments to the date of entry remains possible. As Croatia Airlines starts to grow its A220 fleet, it plans to introduce new destinations to its network, with the carrier previously noting some eight new routes are planned for 2025.
Croatia Airlines’ third A220 jet, which has already received its serial number, is due to arrive in March 2025 and by December of next year a further five aircraft will be delivered. As a result, Croatia Airlines will have a total of eight new aircraft by the end of 2025. Four additional units will be added in 2026 and three more in 2027. All the aircraft are being produced at the A220 Mirabel production facility near Montreal in Canada. Croatia Airlines has secured the jets through a financial lease, with the frames owned by aircraft leasing companies. Two of the fifteen units will be the slightly smaller A220-100 series.
