The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a new final and mandatory Airworthiness Directive (AD)—effective May 27, 2025—affecting all Airbus Canada Limited Partnership Model BD-500-1A11 aircraft, known commercially as the Airbus A220-300. The directive follows a design review that updated the calculated operational loads for certain flight phases, potentially impacting the validity of previous structural repairs.
AD 2025-07-04 was issued after structural and stress analyses revealed that operational loads in specific areas of the aircraft needed reassessment. The FAA notes this creates a potential unsafe condition: existing repairs and damage evaluations may have been based on outdated stress data. This could lead to “negative margins” in the aircraft’s load envelopes, potentially compromising structural integrity if not addressed.
The directive requires all A220-300 operators under FAA jurisdiction to perform a thorough review of maintenance records to identify any repairs and damage evaluations involving “Affected Structures”, as defined in Airbus Canada Service Bulletins (SB) BD500-530012 (Issue 001 or 002). Operators must determine whether these repairs comply with the revised load requirements and perform necessary corrective actions.
Additionally, the AD prohibits the use of certain older Repair Engineering Orders (REOs) as a basis for new structural repairs. However, it clarifies that REOs issued after December 31, 2022, as well as a specific list of validated Generic Repair Engineering Orders (GREOs) detailed in the directive, do not require further review.
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This FAA action closely aligns with a prior directive issued by Transport Canada (TC)—Canada’s civil aviation authority—under AD CF-2023-70 dated October 5, 2023. Canada is the state of design for the A220, which was originally developed as the Bombardier C Series (CS300) before Airbus acquired the program. The FAA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was based on the Canadian directive and was revised following industry comments, including input from Delta Air Lines, an A220 operator.
The FAA estimates that the initial review will take about two labor hours per aircraft, at an approximate cost of $170 USD per aircraft across the U.S. fleet, which currently includes 71 registered aircraft. However, the cost of any required “on-condition” corrective actions has not been estimated, as these will depend on the findings for each aircraft. Some costs may be covered by the manufacturer under warranty.
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