Synaptic Simulations, the development team behind the upcoming Airbus A22X project for Microsoft Flight Simulator, have announced an “eventful, progress filled stream” which will “reveal all the progress we’ve made [on the A220] in the past few months” is coming on April 22nd.
Simmers who are part of Synaptic Simulations’ Discord server will already be well aware of the many progress updates that have been showcased in the lead up to this latest exciting announcement. The team have been working on the project since at least December 2020, and screenshots of the plane’s progress to date show a lot of promise for the upcoming aircraft.
However beyond the occasional set of teaser screenshots, the team has been relatively quiet regarding the plane’s progress and has not dropped any hints regarding a release date or testing phase. This latest announcement of a tell all livestream would indicate that the team has a lot of share, and could possibly be in the final phases of development on the A22X.
The A22X Project: A Brief Rundown
For those unaware, Synaptic Simulations (formerly known as TAP designs) are working on an Airbus A220-300 for Microsoft Flight Simulator. There had also been a version in development for X-Plane 11, although that was sadly cancelled in late 2021 owing to slow progress following the stepping down of the team’s lead XPL developer. The project is currently planned to be a freeware release which will be published through the FlyByWire launcher. Users who already use the launcher for freeware such as the popular A32NX mod, the Salty Simulations B747-8I mod, and the FSLTL traffic injector, will already have noticed that Synaptic’s name has been on the launcher for some time – albeit with nothing to download.
To date, the progress which has been shared with the community has been limited, however we are aware based on what we have seen that the team behind the project are aiming for a high-fidelity aircraft. We have already seen that the team created an accurate map display for the avionics and has modelled all of the plane’s systems pages, to which the team said in a tweet: “We cannot wait to demonstrate displays connected to the backend systems“.
The team has also released several videos which demonstrate the progress that has been made on avionics. From what we’ve seen, it appears that the plane is taking good shape, with complex high fidelity systems modelling built from the ground up being included, rather than being based on existing systems in MSFS stock aircraft.
What is the Airbus A220?
The Airbus A220-300 is a unique aircraft born out of unique circumstances. Originally conceived as the Bombardier C Series, it was planned as modern, highly efficient regional jet to fill a market gap in seating capacity between regional jets (such as Embraer’s E-Jets and Bombardier’s own CRJ series) and typical single aisle medium haul aircraft like the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. Originally it was scheduled to enter service in 2014, however the plane faced numerous engineering and political challenges. On the engineering side, an engine failed during testing and the shipping of orders had to be delayed. The project was only saved thanks to significant funding from the Candian and Quebecian Governments which kept Bombardier afloat as it was haemorrhaging money at the time.
On the political side, Boeing accused Bombardier of using predatory pricing methods to gain market prevalence after it was reported that Bombardier sold 75 C Series jets to Delta Airlines at $20million per unit, a 75% reduction on the $80million asking price. Boeing argued that this would curtail sales of it’s own 737, and so was successful in persuading the US Department of Commerce to impose a 300% import tariff on the plane. With such a high tariff, the plane would never be commercially successful in the US market.
And this is where Airbus steps in. In 2017, Bombardier and Airbus announced that Airbus would acquire a 50.01% stake in the C Series program. Both parties benefitted from the deal – Bombardier could rely on Airbus’ marketing power to sell more planes than it ever could have, and Airbus could add a new jet to their fleet. However the biggest factor in this decision was Airbus’ final assembly line plant in Alabama. If the planes were assembled here, they would *technically* have been made in America and so wouldn’t be subject to that pesky import tariff. The plane was renamed by it’s new majority shareholder, and so was born the Airbus A220.
If you haven’t seen it, there’s a really good video by Wendover Productions which covers all of what I’ve just written, but in greater detail.
What else do we know about the A22X project?
Development updates on the team’s discord server have been few and far between, and little is known about the A22X beyond the screenshots and progress update videos we have of the plane. However, these progress videos are all over a year old, and we haven’t seen a view of the cockpit since April 2022, at which time it was modelled but still not textured.
The announcement of this upcoming livestream doesn’t make any promises, but it’s something we can all be excited about as it seems the team is ready to peel back the lid and show the aircraft in all of it’s glory!
At FSElite we will be watching the stream with an eagle eye, and will update you on all the details around the A22X as soon as we have them!
