EgyptAir Holding has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau) for twelve firm A220-300s with purchase rights for an additional twelve of the type. The aircraft are to be powered by Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofans (GTF).

"We undertook a thorough evaluation process of our fleet and realized that the CS300 would fit perfectly into our business plans and growth strategy,” Safwat Musallam, Chairman and CEO of EgyptAir Holding Company, said in a statement issued during the 2017 Dubai Airshow.

“We selected the C Series aircraft because its excellent range will allow us to best serve domestic and regional destinations, including neighboring Arab cities, the Middle East as well as several European destinations.”

As previously reported, the twinjets will be used to replace the twelve E170s currently in service with EgyptAir Express (Cairo International) and which are to be retired during 2018/19. According to the Egyptians, deliveries for the firm CS300s would run from 2018 to 2020 while the optioned aircraft would be for delivery between 2020 and 2026.

Separately, Iraq's Minister of Transport Kazem Al-Hamami has reaffirmed his country's commitment to the C-Series.

In a statement to the Sada news agency on Tuesday, November 14, he said he hoped to resolve all outstanding details concerning the order for five A220-300s with options for eleven more, announced by Iraqi Airways (IA, Baghdad) in 2013. No further details concerning delivery dates as revealed.