Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) has officially pushed back the debut of its A220-100 aircraft by a week to February 7, 2019, due to the delays in certification caused by the United States government shutdown, Business Insider has reported.

The carrier previously planned to launch the operations of the new type on January 31 on routes from New York La Guardia to Boston and Dallas/Fort Worth. Already in mid-January, Delta admitted that the debut was likely to be pushed back as non-essential staff of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had been furloughed due to the shutdown.

Delta said at the time that even if the A220 launch gets delayed, other aircraft types will be available to operate the routes and there will be no impact on the network.

The airline, the first in North America to take the A220s, has so far taken delivery of four units of the type and has a further thirty-six on order with Airbus.

The airline admitted that the shutdown was also likely to delay the debut of the A330-900s, which has so far not been scheduled.

The US government was temporarily reopened on January 26.