Yikes: 5 year old Airbus A220 scrapped and in pieces as parts become more valuable than aircraft
African airline EgyptAir parted ways with its fleet of 12 Airbus A220s in early 2024. Now, a photograph has emerged showing a young Airbus A220 scrapped and with parts removed at Mirabel in Canada.
How does a state-of-the-art regional jet with low flying hours end up being parted out just five years into its service?
Why is this young Airbus A220 being parted out?
EgyptAir received its first Airbus A220 in September 2019. Capt. Ahmed Adel, Chairman and CEO of EgyptAir, described the jet as “the most innovative and technologically advanced aircraft in the world,” and said the airline was proud to be the first in MENA to take delivery.
Five years later, all 12 of EgyptAir’s A220s were gone, sold for just $300 million, a stark contrast from a list price of around $1.1 billion paid just years before.
But the entry into service was less than smooth. Issues with Pratt and Whitney’s PW1500G engines meant aircraft spent more time in the shop than they did flying.
According to Airspace Africa, operators including Air Tanzania, airBaltic and SWISS reported engines requiring attention after barely 1,000 cycles, compared to the 5,000 cycles expected.
Egyptair was forced to send its older aircraft to service routes intended for the A220s, eroding the cost savings expected from the platform. Reputational damage through delays and cancellations plagued the airline, while maintenance costs ballooned.
Impacted by the pandemic travel downturn, but 2023 Egyptair’s A220s had become a liability. In early 2024, the airline sold the 12 aircraft to lessor Azorra.
But Azorra didn’t just want to lease the aircraft out to other airlines. It saw huge value in tearing them down and using them as a source of engines and parts.
Airbus A220 scrapped as its now more valuable in parts
Azorra partnered with Delta Material Services (DMS) to have the industry’s first Airbus A220 parted out. It explained that the aircraft would be used to support the needs of Delta and other airlines by providing parts.
“We’re big believers in the Airbus A220 and it remains a highly valuable and important asset to Azorra,” says Ron Baur, Azorra president. “Parting out this used airframe and leasing its engine is a creative solution that will generate long-term opportunity for the A220 to continue to thrive.”
Harvesting the parts from a nearly-new aircraft is stark evidence of the depth of the supply chain crisis.
Mike McBride, Vice President of Maintenance Operations at DMS said this initiative was “vital to ensuring we minimise the disruption caused by the parts shortage and supply chain issues.”
The Pratt and Whitney GTF family has been plagued by durability issues. Premature wear coupled with slow turnaround times and limited MRO slots mean airlines are sometimes waiting up to 300 days for engines to cycle through overhaul shops, although P&W is working to drive this down.
Exacerbating the problem is the youth of the Airbus A220 fleet. With just over 300 aircraft in service, there aren’t any retired or parked A220s to source spares from. As such, when a rotable unit (avionics, hydraulic pumps, landing gear and such) becomes unserviceable, competition for replacement parts is fierce.
Repair turnaround times are long, and OEM spares are in short supply. Airbus inherited a complex supply chain from Bombardier, with many Canadian SME providers. Airbus has made progress towards integration, but aftermarket support has been sluggish to ramp up.
A serviceable PW1500G with green time can fetch upwards of $8 million per engine, while major rotables like landing gear can be worth $5 – $8 million per part. With each aircraft acquired at an average of $25 million, the economics of part-out start to stack up fast.
Will we see more Airbus A220s scrapped?
The A220 is still very much an in-demand aircraft, but as demand for parts and engines continues to weigh on the operators, questions remain over the fate of the rest of EgyptAir’s fleet.
The one aircraft handed over to Delta Material Services so far is SU-GFA (now N560AZ). As seen in the earlier photo, it has partially been scrapped, with many parts visibly missing.
According to data from Planespotters, four of the A220s are headed to Breeze Airways, but likely not to be flown. Azorra says that these are also intended to be parted out for the airline. They’re currently stored at Provo (PVU), Charleston (CHS), Orlando (MCO), and Providence (PVD).
Just one has returned to flying. SU-GEY was flown from Cairo to Larnaca (LCA) on 31 August 2024, where it was re-registered 5B-DEC and entered service with Cyprus Airways.
The other six remain in Cairo but are under Azorra’s ownership. The lessor admits that the final fate of these aircraft is still under consideration, with Ron Baur telling ch-aviation, “While some of the EgyptAir jets are providing parts for airline partners such as Breeze Airways and Delta, our plans for the remaining aircraft are under active review.”
The case of EgyptAir’s A220s may mark the first time a next-gen commercial jet has been scrapped so soon, not from obsolescence or damage, but because its parts are more valuable than its airworthiness. As demand for narrowbody platforms soars and supply chain constraints persist, it may not be the last.
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