at the paris air show 2019, air lease corporation signed a letter of intent for 50 a220-300s, thus becoming the first major leasing company to order the type. in july 2019, air france–klm announced a commitment for 60 a220-300s, plus options and acquisition rights for a further 60 aircraft, to be delivered from september 2021 with the aim of gradually replacing air france's a318 and a319 fleet. air france noted that it would be interested in converting some of its orders to a stretched variant of the a220 if airbus were to develop one. the air france memorandum of understanding, once converted to a firm order, is to bring the backlog to a total of 611 aircraft. however, up to 110 of these are indefinitely deferred "ghost" orders recorded by bombardier before the airbus takeover.