Swiss is grounding its A220 (née C Series) fleet for inspections after a series of issues with the aircraft’s Pratt and Whitney engines. The airline currently operates 9 A220-100 and 20 A220-300 aircraft. In a statement the airline said, ‘ongoing technical inspections of several aircraft will restrict our flight operations.’

Update 29 October — The FAA issued an expanded Airworthiness Directive revising instructions for engine inspections and expanding the scope to include additional engines. The revised AD also reduced the length of time in which operators much comply with the directive. Read the full directive.

Update 26 October — Transport Canada issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive instructing operators of the A220 to limit the engine N1 setting to 94% while above 29000 feet. Read the full directive.

Update 15 October | 1900UTC — Swiss says the first A220 inspections have been completed and aircraft are returning to service as the inspections are finished. HB-JBI departed for London, while HB-JCM flew to Paris. The airline says it will operate a mostly normal A220 schedule by Thursday, 17 October.

Follow the Swiss A220 fleet

Swiss A220 engine incidents

LX348

On 25 July 2019, LX348 en route from Geneva to London, experienced an uncontained failure of its left Pratt & Whitney PW1524G engine. The aircraft, HB-JCM, safely diverted to Paris. Inspection of the engine post-flight revealed a missing low-pressure compressor stage 1 rotor.

LX358

On 16 September 2019, LX358 from Geneva to London suffered a failure of its left Pratt & Whitney PW1524G. The aircraft, A220-300 HB-JCA, returned safely to Geneva. Per the French BEA, post-flight inspection ‘revealed a hole in the low pressure compressor case and a separated low pressure compressor stage 1 rotor’.

LX359

On 15 October 2019, LX359 from London to Geneva diverted to Paris due to an engine failure. A220-300 HB-JCC landed safely. After this incident, Swiss announced it was grounding its A220 fleet for inspections.

The Swiss A220 fleet

Swiss operates a total of 29 A220s, 9 A220-100s and 20 A220-330s.

Featured image © Andre M.