Airbus to invest up to 1 billion on A220 program

Airbus plans to invest up to 1 billion euros this year in its A220 passenger plane program.

Earlier this month, Airbus increased its participation in the A220 program, known as Airbus Canada, from 50.1% to 75% after partnering with the government of the Canadian province of Quebec to purchase the 33.5% stake in Bombardier. 

The A220, formerly known as CSeries, is a 110-130 seater aircraft, slightly smaller than the Airbus A320 aircraft.

Airbus has been increasing production of the A220 towards its maximum monthly capacity of 10 units at its facilities in Mirabel. And at a monthly rate of four in Mobile, Alabama, objectives it expects to reach by the middle of this decade.

Production in the United States is critical to Airbus since the US government imposed tariffs on airplanes manufactured in Europe for purchase by US airlines after a one-year tariff dispute.