Airbus recently celebrated the delivery of the 12,000th aircraft in its 50-year history. The A220-100 — assembled in Mirabel, Canada — was handed over to US-based Delta Air Lines; it was the 12th A220 delivered to Delta since October 2018.

Delta was the first US airline to operate the A220 (in February 2019) and is the largest A220 customer, with a firm
order for 90 aircraft.

This ‘milestone’ delivery of a Canadian-made Airbus aircraft to a US-based airline is said to highlight the growing presence of Airbus in North America.

The construction of a second A220 final-assembly line was started in January this year in Mobile, Alabama; it is scheduled to begin deliveries to US customers in 2020.

Airbus (www.airbus.com) delivered its first aircraft — an A300B2 — to Air France in 1974.

The company delivered its 6,000th aircraft in 2010, 36 years after its first. The pace continued to accelerate, and it took Airbus just nine years to double that number, reaching the 12,000th Airbus aircraft delivery on 20 May this year.