By Tim Hepher and Padraic Halpin
DUBLIN, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Airbus is poised to start offering airlines and leasing firms a larger version of its A220 regional jet with a view to launching development later this year, industry sources said.
The campaign aims to pencil in enough orders to justify going ahead with the roughly 180-seat A220-500 version and marks the start of proper negotiations before a potential launch announcement as early as the Farnborough Airshow in July.
Airbus officials told financiers
on the sidelines of the Airlines Economics conference in Dublin that 2026 would be a "big year" for the A220 and more details would be given soon, the sources told Reuters.
Any decision to go ahead and develop the so-called "simple stretch" design would be subject to Airbus board approval.
An Airbus spokesperson said it is exploring all options for the A220 and continues to focus on ramping up production and supporting customers.
The larger version of the 110-160 seat passenger plane has been on the horizon for some time. But Airbus has been wrestling with slow production, high manufacturing costs, questions over the durability of engines and pressure from leasing firms.
In a surprise appearance at the Airline Economics conference this week in Dublin, new Airbus commercial CEO Lars Wagner backed the A220-500, but reassured financiers he was focused on easing the industrial pressures across the portfolio.
Two of the sources said Airbus had privately told financiers that sales discussions would open in a matter of weeks and the plane could be launched by the end of the year. The sources said a final decision would depend on locking in two or three marquee customers and approval from the Airbus board.
A larger version of the loss-making A220 program, acquired from Canada's Bombardier in 2018, would allow Airbus to renegotiate supplier contracts and lower production costs per aircraft, which have kept the venture in the red.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher and Padraic HalpinAdditional reporting Allison LampertEditing by Adam Jourdan and Alexander Smith)
