A crisis-era order just handed Quebec's aerospace industry its biggest win ever
With airlines worldwide slashing flight schedules and jet fuel prices soaring, AirAsia just placed the largest single firm order in the A220's history.
The Malaysian low-cost carrier signed a deal Wednesday to buy 150 A220-300 jets from Airbus Canada — all to be assembled at the Mirabel, Quebec facility north of Montreal — in what CBC News called a multibillion-dollar coup for Quebec's aviation industry.
Reuters reports that AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes also took options on 150 additional jets, contingent on Airbus developing a larger A220-500 variant.
Fernandes was candid about the timing.
He said crises are “an opportunity to make bold decisions” and that “wars will not go on forever” — a reference to the US-Israeli attack on Iran that triggered an effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and drove jet fuel prices higher.
With few buyers in the market, he added, “I probably got a better price.”
The list price for the A220-300 is US$91.5m per aircraft, though the parties did not disclose the final figure.
McGill University aviation management lecturer John Gradek told CBC the purchase price was likely “nowhere near the manufacturer's suggested retail price.”
Western University professor Geraint Harvey called the order “great news” for governments and workers, but noted the stakes were high.
“One-hundred-fifty aircraft is a massive order,” he said, flagging the Middle East situation and fuel price volatility as key risks.
The deal lands as Airbus Canada continues to struggle toward breakeven.
The Mirabel plant has averaged fewer than seven jets per month — half the threshold needed to break even — due to supplier shortages spanning engines to wings, according to BNN Bloomberg.
Airbus Canada CEO Guillaume Chevasson told reporters the program remained “a few miles away” from profitability, with a target of 13 planes per month by early 2028.
Gradek was skeptical, saying “the jury's still out” on whether the Canadian product Prime Minister Mark Carney has championed can be produced at a profitable rate.
Reuters also noted Airbus faces competitive pressure from Embraer's E2 jet, which outsold the A220 three-to-one last year.
Quebec, which holds a 25 percent stake in Airbus Canada, has written off its initial US$1bn investment in the former C Series program as valueless and in October cut by half the estimated value of a subsequent cash injection, to US$300m, BNN Bloomberg reported.
Carney framed the deal as proof that Canada can diversify trade beyond the US.
He recalled meeting Fernandes in Kuala Lumpur last fall, saying the two “shared a vision of deepening ties” among countries “choosing to build in the face of adversity.”
His office called it the largest ever order for a Canadian-designed and produced aircraft, one that will “support thousands of careers across Canada, from skilled trades to engineering.”
Airbus commercial aviation chief Lars Wagner said the deal “underscores Quebec's role as a key hub in global aviation,” according to BNN Bloomberg.
“Government support is the backbone of the innovation we see in this hangar,” he added.
The Mirabel facility now employs nearly 5,000 workers, 2,500 hired in the past four years.
First deliveries are expected in the first quarter of 2028, with Fernandes aiming to operate the world's largest A220 fleet.
