In-game reporting name: “Airbus A220-300 - Czech Airlines [Smartwings]”
Other tag: Czech Republic

Summary of Czech Airlines…

Czech Airlines (abbreviation: CSA, Czech: Ceské aerolinie, a.s.) is a Czech aviation brand and privately held holding company. Between 1923 and 2024, it operated as an independent airline and served as the flag carrier of the Czech Republic. Czech Airlines ended its own flight operations on 26 October 2024, handing them over to Smartwings while being repurposed into a holding company.

CSA is the fifth oldest airline in the world, after Dutch KLM (1919), Colombian Avianca (1919), Australian Qantas (1920), and Soviet/Russian Aeroflot (1923). It was the first airline in the world to fly regular jet-only routes (between Prague and Moscow). The airline ran a frequent flyer programme called "OK Plus" about the airline's International Air Transport Association designation, as well as the term of approval; OK also featured prominently in its previous livery, and was the prefix of Czech aircraft registrations. It was a member of the SkyTeam alliance. Its hub was Václav Havel Airport Prague.

When, in 2018, 97.74% of Czech Airlines was bought by the privately owned Smartwings, CSA became a part of the Smartwings Group. The remaining 2.26% of CSA was owned by insurance company Ceská Pojištovna. CSA filed for bankruptcy in March 2021 and went through an extensive business restructuring, exiting in June 2022. As of 2022, CSA was under a new ownership structure with a new parent company called Prague City Air s.r.o. owning 70% of the company, with Smartwings retaining the remaining 30%.

On 26 October 2024, Czech Airlines became the parent (holding) company of Smartwings. As part of this transition, Smartwings took over the operational management of flights previously operated by Czech Airlines. The last scheduled flight of Czech Airlines was flight OK767 from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Václav Havel Airport Prague, operated by an Airbus A320-214 registered OK-IOO. Following the flight's departure, "Featured flight alert" notifications were sent out to users of the ADS-B flight tracker Flightradar24 application for flight OK767, the last flight of Czech Airlines. As of 2024, 2 aircraft fly under the Czech Airlines brand.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Airlines#

Summary of the A220…

The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership (ACLP). It was originally developed by Bombardier Aviation and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launched on 13 July 2008. The smaller A220-100 (formerly CS100) first flew on 16 September 2013, received an initial type certificate from Transport Canada on 18 December 2015, and entered service on 15 July 2016 with launch operator Swiss Global Air Lines. The longer A220-300 (formerly CS300) first flew on 27 February 2015, received an initial type certificate on 11 July 2016, and entered service with airBaltic on 14 December 2016. Both launch operators recorded better-than-expected fuel burn and dispatch reliability, as well as positive feedback from passengers and crew.

In July 2018, the aircraft was rebranded as the A220 after Airbus acquired a majority stake in the programme through a joint venture that became ACLP in June 2019. The A220 thus became the only Airbus commercial aircraft programme managed outside of Europe. In August, a second A220 final assembly line opened at the Airbus Mobile facility in Alabama, supplementing the main facility in Mirabel, Quebec. In February 2020, Airbus increased its stake in ACLP to 75% through Bombardier's exit, while Investissement Québec held the remaining stake.

Powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1500G geared turbofan engines under its wings, the twinjet features fly-by-wire flight controls, a carbon composite wing, an aluminium-lithium fuselage, and optimised aerodynamics for better fuel efficiency. The aircraft family offers maximum take-off weights from 63.1 to 70.9 t (139,000 to 156,000 lb), and cover a 3,450–3,600 nmi (6,390–6,670 km; 3,970–4,140 mi) range. The 35 m (115 ft) long A220-100 seats 108 to 133, while the 38.7 m (127 ft) long A220-300 seats 130 to 160. The ACJ TwoTwenty is the business jet version of the A220-100, launched in late 2020.

Delta Air Lines is the largest A220 customer and operator with 72 aircraft in its fleet as of October 2024. A total of 912 A220s have been ordered of which 367 have been delivered and are all in commercial service with 22 operators. The global A220 fleet has completed more than 1.33 million flights over 2.32 million block hours, transporting more than 100 million passengers without accidents. The A220 family complements the A319neo in the Airbus range and competes with Boeing 737 MAX 7, as well as the smaller four-abreast Embraer E195-E2 and E190-E2, with the A220 holding over 55% market share in this small airliner category.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A220

Aircraft in real life…

OK-EYA is the first A220-300 to go into service with CSA, and 1 of 4 to enter the fleet into the future. The aircraft is adorned in the CSA colours, in which resembles the company that first ordered all 4 of the A220’s. This aircraft however, is going to be operated by Smartwings. The aircraft did its initial tests on the very final days of CSA’s operations.

This specific aircraft had its first flight on 31/10/2024, is currently 0.1 years old, and was tested at Montréal–Mirabel International Airport (YMX/CYMX), with the rest registration C-FOVP.

The aircraft has currently been in service with the following airlines…
- Smartwings, since 15/11/2024, with the test registration OK-EYA
- Czech Airlines, since 15/11/2024, with the registration OK-EYA (Operated by Smartwings).
yeah, that’s it.

OK-EYA will start revenue flights very soon (as of 24/11/2024).

Gallery…

My reference photo. ^

Other Information…

This was honestly one of the simplest liveries I’ve probably ever done.

That’s all! Bavte se!

(Have Fun! in Czech.)