A multi-engine, instrument rated pilot, James Wynbrandt has been an AIN and Business Jet Traveler contributor since 2003. His in-depth reporting and insightful features have won more than a dozen editorial honors, including two National Business Aviation Association Gold Wing Awards (2019; 2021), and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Barron’s, Fortune, Forbes, and Smithsonian Air &amp; Space. He has flown his Mooney M20K 252 on assignments throughout North and Central America and the Caribbean. Wynbrandt is also the author of Flying High (Wiley &amp; Sons), a biography of Jet Blue founder David Neeleman, as well as histories, references works, and books on a variety of other topics from major publishers. He lives in New York City.

Contributor - Business Aviation

James Wynbrandt

Comlux has seen the future, and it starts at TwoTwenty—the Airbus Corporate Jets ACJ TwoTwenty, that is. The model is now the focus of cabin completions and sales activity for the Swiss VIP aircraft service company, which delivered the first of the newest ACJ model to launch customer Dubai-based hospitality firm Five Hotels and Resorts earlier this month.
“The core business of Comlux Completion is now the TwoTwenty,” said Comlux Group founder and chairman Richard Gaona on the eve of EBACE 2023, where the aircraft is making its world debut on static display. But this direction may move Comlux away from the bespoke custom interiors on which its completions arm was built since the TwoTwenty has a more modular cabin design.
The TwoTwenty is the executive version of the Airbus A220 regional airliner. Airbus Corporate Jets (Booth Z52, Static AD_03) partnered with Comlux on the TwoTwenty program in 2020; Comlux handles the design, certification, and installation of the cabin interiors of the first 15&nbsp;jets.&nbsp; 
<figure style="margin:0;">
<div style="margin-bottom:5px;"><img alt="Comlux ACJ TwoTwenty interior" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="cca1229a-567a-47e3-8d14-7161c0ad496a" src="/sites/default/files/comlux_5dwm3049.jpg" width="2500" height="1250" loading="lazy"></div>
<figcaption style="font-size:1.5rem;line-height:1.2;font-style:italic;">Photo: David McIntosh</figcaption>
</figure>

Comlux and Airbus are excited about the TwoTwenty’s potential because the aircraft’s interior has twice the floor space yet the same hangar footprint and similar price range of large-cabin business jets—about $80 million. It also costs 40 percent less to operate than a narrowbody bizliner, but the TwoTwenty’s 5,650-nm range doesn’t match that of ultra-long-range business jets.
But delivering TwoTwentys at the price and pace the market demands doesn’t allow for highly customized interiors. Instead, Comlux developed a selection of zone and configuration modules, monuments, and other cabin elements that can be mixed and matched, available in four “signature ambiances.” This gives customers wide latitude in designing a cabin that meets individualized needs at minimum time and cost.&nbsp; 
<figure style="margin:0;">
<div style="margin-bottom:5px;"><img alt="Comlux ACJ TwoTwenty interior" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6ac37b5d-9f69-42d7-bf88-488b6eb19277" src="/sites/default/files/comlux_5dwm3040.jpg" width="2500" height="1250" loading="lazy"></div>
<figcaption style="font-size:1.5rem;line-height:1.2;font-style:italic;">Photo: David McIntosh</figcaption>
</figure>

The partners believe the market can absorb six TwoTwentys per year in the near term, with eight-month completion times, and Comlux is gearing up to meet the schedule. But the production and certification method requires a dramatically different approach from that employed for one-off VIP interiors. Every part must be marked with airframe-specific identification (identical coffee makers, for example, cannot be swapped among aircraft), for which Comlux had to develop a new parts labeling process.&nbsp;<img alt data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="4fa0ae5f-df66-4d06-9231-91617cc8e378" src="/sites/default/files/uploads/2023/05/comlux_fiveacj220-44e4-8b8c-049c007cc485_0.jpg" width="2500" height="1250" loading="lazy">
Now that the first TwoTwenty is flying and prospects can see the aircraft and the interior, orders are expected to pick up. Thus, Airbus is planning a world tour to showcase the aircraft.
Eight firm TwoTwenty orders have been received to date—Comlux is taking three of them—and the next open slots are for two deliveries available in 2025.

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