After dropping hints during their most recent stream, the Hot Start team announced in their Discord that they are working on the Airbus A220 for XP12.
The Airbus A220, formerly known as the C-Series, was originally developed by Canadian manufacturer Bombardier. The aircraft was designed to compete with Embraer’s E-Jet E2 aircraft family and fill the capacity gap between the 737/A320 and regional jets. After a series of manufacturing challenges and a trade dispute with Boeing, Bombardier entered a joint venture with Airbus, allowing Airbus to control 50.01% of the program and rebrand the aircraft as the Airbus A220. Eventually, Bombardier completely exited from the commercial aviation market, giving Airbus 75% of the program.
While Hot Start did not share many details in their Discord post, we do know that both the A220-100 and A220-300 will be released; however, the team is still determining which model will be released first. In addition, while the development team is only focused on building the aircraft for XP12, it will be designed to be “easily portable” to MSFS if the team decides to enter that market. Lastly, it was later confirmed the A220 would feature a fully custom flight model. However, no photo previews were provided at this time.
FSElite will continue to monitor the development of the aircraft and share any future updates.
