The Montreal-based airline announced plans Tuesday to launch an all-new cabin appearance next year, featuring new mood lighting, extra-large overhead bins and an overall refreshed “vibe.”
The new design will debut on its Airbus A220 jets, the Canadian flag carrier said at a news conference hosted by Airbus in Hamburg, Germany.
Passengers will start seeing the new interiors in 2026.
It won’t just be a milestone for Air Canada: The cabin refresh will mark the debut of Airbus’ “Airspace” cabin on the A220.
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Known for its elaborate lighting panels, airy and spacious cabin layouts, and a host of updated, more practical features, the Airspace cabin already flies on a wide range of airlines on other types of planes. But this will be the first time the planemaker's Airspace design will make its way onto the A220 — an aircraft that first entered Air Canada’s fleet just over five years ago, in late 2019.
Larger overhead bins
For Air Canada passengers, the most tangible upgrade will be the larger overhead bins.
They’ll be 20% bigger, the carrier said — room enough for up to 19 additional bags. That’s no small feat on a plane that seats up to 137 passengers.
Those bins should also be easier to close, latching at the bottom and hinging upward, as I saw when touring a mock-up of Airbus’ design Tuesday at Aircraft Interiors Expo, a major industry convention in Hamburg.
These bins should be easier and faster for passengers (not to mention flight attendants) to shut as precious seconds tick away ahead of departure.
Plus, the updated A220s will help usher in two improvements Air Canada previously announced: fast, free onboard Wi-Fi for Aeroplan members and spiffy new 4K seatback screens made by Panasonic, which I got a look at (below) last year.
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An overall refresh — for the A220 and beyond
But the refreshed aesthetic should be a nice improvement, too. Air France is calling it the “Glowing Hearted” design.
“The cabin is a lot warmer than it has been in the past, and that is on purpose,” John Moody, Managing Director of Onboard Product, said at a news conference Tuesday. “What we want to deliver is that sort of warm personality, warm caring, that Canadians are known for.”
Expect that warmth to show up on more than just the A220, too. The design Air Canada unveiled with the French planemaker Tuesday should “start flowing” across other Air Canada aircraft types, Moody said.
While he couldn’t say for sure, we should note — because he did — that the airline has dozens of long-range Airbus A321XLRs on order. This new aircraft variant has inspired a wide range of carriers, from American Airlines to Iberia, to roll out new styles and premium seat types.
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“Think of that as a deep tease,” Moody said of Air Canada’s plans. “We have the XLRs coming. We have other aircraft types coming that will be introducing new products, stay tuned.”
Bottom line
Air Canada currently has 35 A220s in its fleet, which fly on a wide range of routes across North America. The new Airspace cabin will debut with the arrival of its 43rd A220, the airline said. That's currently slated for delivery in March of 2026.
The airline does not plan, as of now, to retrofit its existing A220s with the new product.
Air Canada’s A220s feature 12 premium recliners in its North America business class. It has 125 seats in the main cabin arranged in the A220’s signature 2-by-3 configuration.
The airline's announcement Tuesday came as it (like competitors) has been cutting flights to and from the U.S. amid plummeting bookings from Canada-based passengers.
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