staraustralia | A220 family | 2012-2021

At the Paris Air Show in June 2019, staraustralia signed an MoU with Airbus for up to 70 A220s and 50 A330neos. Today the Australian LCC officially firmed up the orders, including 39 A220s. Those will be split into 23 A220-100s and 16 A220-300s, with 15 options and 16 purchase rights which can be firmed up into either variant. Deliveries are slated to start in the third quarter of 2021, and carry on until 2025. The company also converted 10 of its A321LR orders to the newly-launched A321XLR, deferring delivery of those to 2024

The A220 represents a new era for staraustralia, as it will allow the LCC to open up new routes in smaller markets, making travel accessible to more communities than ever. With the new type, staraustralia is also straying away from the hub-and-spoke system it had based its operations around, as the group's CEO stated during the press conference where the new orders were announced that the aircraft would be used for point-to-point flights. With its long range, the A220 will also allow the company to start flights from points in northern Australia to Asia.

In the same conference, the CEO also confirmed rumors that the A220 would be replacing the 4 A319s in the fleet of subsidiary starpacific. Specifically, 3 A220-100s and 2 A220-300s will take over the Nadi-based airline's fleet, and also help expand its network while making the operation more profitable, while the A319s will be scrapped, as the group is replacing the smaller member of the A320 family with A320neos.