The Bombardier C-Series is coming... Who will order it in the US beyond Republic?

[Heavy Set]

Canadian buddy just sent me this video. This is my first visual exposure to the airplane although I have heard about it. Looks like very well designed airplane - no surprise as I am a Bombardier fan with time in the CL300 and Lears. Evidently the C-Series has had manufacturing delays and first flight should happen in the next week or two.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHqOOREKlIU


My buddy mentioned Republic has some orders but may not execute them. Who else could order them in the States? UAL? Seems like Embraer is beating Bombardier to the punch with orders. I am sure scope issues could make this aircraft a touchy subject with the legacy pilots - that's why I hope they fly them if they are ordered.

 

[johnsonrod]

Pretty airplane! But pretty don't pay the bills... Yes, let's hope legacy pilots fly it. Would be great if Republic could sell those order positions to UAL or one of the LCCs. The bigger CS300 version could work for legacies with more seating capacity (130-150 seats).

 

[Flying the Line]

Tell me how this airplane will be better than or last longer than a B737 or A320

 

[johnsonrod]

Tell me how this airplane will be better than or last longer than a B737 or A320

The marketing literature (believable or not) states a 20% fuel burn advantage over comparably sized aircraft. It can also operate long range from short fields like London City Airport. So, it is a very capable performer ON PAPER. Now, it still hasn't flown yet, so not yet confirmed....

 

[Tomct]

Nice looking airplane, but I have big doubts it will even ruffle the feathers of Boeing and Airbus. But that's just me...

 

[chqflyer]

Tell me how this airplane will be better than or last longer than a B737 or A320

It won't. Hopefully it fails miserably. The last thing this industry needs is Republic getting their hands on something like this. Theoretically, it's outlawed by scope, but If there's one thing Republic is damn good at, it's finding and exploiting loopholes in contracts.

 

[Flyby1206]

Some big player will eventually place a massive order for them after Bombardier offers them at fire sale prices.

 

[NoJoy]

Hmmm maybe SkyWest with Alaska colors. Might give Embraer 175-190 series a run for the money.

 

[LoveGun]

I might be wrong but I think the C-series will be the first aircraft brought to market using geared fan technology (not sure if it's gonna beat the Neo). The 20% fuel savings might be for real.

There was a rumor that VX was looking at these. Also, Porter Airlines in Canada has big plans to fly the C series out of downtown Toronto to the west coast.

It could be a good plane. Pilots need to get smart and not get fooled by names -- Regional Jet equals B scale. Time to stop tripping over our egos and realize that no aircraft is too small to be flown by mainline.

 

[atpcliff]

The "C" is bigger than the E-170/195 series.

NWA was probably going to buy it to replace their DC-9s.

It will be 20% more efficient than the most efficient aircraft flying today.

The GTF engine (Geared Turbofan, by Pratt & Whitney) will also be used on the Mitsubishi MRJ and is one of the 2 engines to be available for the A-320 NEO family series. If scaled up and put on the new generation -777 it would, I think, be THE most efficient large aircraft, by far.

 

[Heavy Set]

Here is the latest picture:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Bombardier/Bombardier-BD-500-1A10-CSeries/2306145/L/

Having flown several Bombardier products I am a big fan of the design. Certainly has a better ramp presence than the Embraer 175/190. This CS100 is also the smaller version - the CS300 with up to 150 seats will follow one year from now (neither has been flown yet) unless they have further delays.

Obviously hope it is ultimately flown by legacy pilots if anyone orders it. Republic currently has something like 30-40 CS100s on order but I am not sure how they would use them under current scope restrictions. At one point I thought Frontier was the intended recipient but not now...

 

[trip]

It will be great aircraft with better quality than the E series jets, the price is what will kill it.

 

[johnsonrod]

It will be great aircraft with better quality than the E series jets, the price is what will kill it.

That's what big volume orders are all about - right?

Plus, Bombardier "claims" the C-Series with its new engines will be 20% more efficient than the Embraer, Airbus and Boeing competitors (smaller end of the seating scale like the A319 & 737-700) which could help with the aircraft buying analysis. People forget the cost includes both the financing cost and the operating cost. We are also talking about 2 versions - the 100-120 seat CS100 and the 130-150 seat CS300. Not sure what the end price would be for either if someone committed to a large order number...

That said, it has to fly first.... Until it actually does its first test flight (due to happen shortly but delayed several times) none of the efficiency predictions matter....

 

[Jetjockey]

My guess UAL will order them and fly them.

 

[FLYLOW22]

Big airplane for a regional order.

Where will they fly that?

 

[atpcliff]

It won't affect Boeing at first, because Boeing has all but abandoned the market for airplanes with less than 150 seats. They should have kept the MD-9x line open...

Later, when the "C" is expanded to 150-200 seats, then they will start chewing into Boeing's market. I can't believe that Boeing is planning on selling the almost-50 year old 737 decades into the future....it is a very old design and will not compete well.....and the small Airbus design is getting pretty old, too.