Croatia Airlines continues to renew its fleet at an accelerated pace. The eleventh Airbus A220 destined for the Croatian flag carrier has departed Airbus’ facility in Mirabel, Canada, for Europe.

The aircraft is an Airbus A220-300 with manufacturer serial number MSN 55473, which carried the temporary test registration C-FOWQ during production and test flights. Before delivery, it completed several factory inspections, including test flights as well as ground testing of its engines and systems.

The flight is operating under flight number OU7223 and the call sign CTN7223. The aircraft departed Montréal–Mirabel Airport on Thursday at 10:39 local time, or 16:39 Croatian time, bound for Copenhagen, where an intermediate stop is planned before it continues to Croatia. Its arrival in Copenhagen is expected on Thursday evening, while the final flight to Zagreb is scheduled for early Friday morning.

Upon joining the Croatia Airlines fleet, the aircraft will carry the Croatian registration 9A-CAU, becoming the airline’s eleventh Airbus A220. It will also be the ninth example of the larger A220-300 variant, while the remaining two aircraft are A220-100s. The name to be assigned to the aircraft has not yet been officially announced.

The arrival of the eleventh A220 follows shortly after the delivery of aircraft 9A-CAS, named “Velika Gorica”, which is also the world’s first Airbus A220 painted in the Star Alliance livery.

Once the largest fleet renewal project in its history is completed, Croatia Airlines will operate a total of 15 Airbus A220 family aircraft, comprising 13 A220-300s and two A220-100s. In the Croatian carrier’s configuration, the larger variant accommodates 149 passengers, while the A220-100 has 127 seats. The first A220-300 arrived in Zagreb in July 2024.

By introducing a single-type fleet, Croatia Airlines is gradually replacing its older Airbus A319s and Dash 8-Q400 turboprop aircraft. The new A220 offers lower fuel consumption and emissions, reduced noise levels and a more modern passenger cabin, while also enabling the airline to launch new routes and increase capacity on existing services.