Bombardier Cseries thread

[Ockie]

New Malaysia airline plans to buy Bombardier CSeries jets worth $1.5 billion

LANGKAWI, Malaysia (Reuters) - A new privately held Malaysian airline intends to buy 20 Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO) CS100 aircraft for $1.5 billion, in what could be the Canadian planemaker's first order in Southeast Asia for its long-delayed CSeries passenger jet program.

The airline, called flymojo, could also buy 20 more aircraft, which would raise the value of the deal to $2.94 billion, according to a letter of intent announced on Tuesday at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace show.

Montreal-based Bombardier is under pressure to bring the CSeries into service after years of delays and cost overruns. The smaller CS100 started test flights in 2013.

The company has tried to sell the CSeries to Southeast Asian airlines such as Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd (AIRA.KL) and Indonesia's Lion Air, but it has been unsuccessful in the face stiff competition from Boeing (BA.N) and Airbus (AIR.PA) in one of the region's fastest growing airline markets.

If the deal with flymojo is firmed up, it will finally give the Canadian planemaker a toehold in the region.

The airline will begin flying in the first quarter of 2016 and focus on regional routes, Managing Director Janardhanan Gopala Krishnan said, without disclosing details about its owners. The full-service airline will be based at Senai International Airport in Johor, near Singapore, but it was not immediately clear when it plans to firm up the Bombardier order.

Bombardier builds private jets and smaller passenger aircraft that can seat up to 100 passengers, and has spent billions developing the CSeries, which can seat up to 160 passengers. This puts it in direct competition with the smallest variants of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 family of aircraft.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/17/us-malaysia-airlines-bombardier-idUSKBN0MD07V20150317

 

[TofuMofu]

hmm, you mean they had 20 CS100's. They are all missing by now

 

[Ockie]

Bombardier Resets CSeries Debut to 2016 as Timeline Slips

(Bloomberg) -- Bombardier Inc. delayed the delivery of the struggling CSeries jetliner again, targeting 2016 for the plane’s commercial debut after previously predicting that its flagship model would be in service by the end of this year.

Canadian certification of the plane should come in late 2015, Chief Executive Officer Alain Bellemare said Friday. He said that will set the stage for a handover next year to the first customer, which Bombardier hasn’t identified, while asserting that there had been no change in the timetable.

“We have an entry into service schedule for our clients, and this schedule is in fact in 2016,” Bellemare, who became CEO last month, said after a shareholder meeting in Montreal. “Before I arrived, it was already scheduled like that.”

Still, the timeline is a retreat from longstanding comments targeting the end of this year for an initial delivery that Bombardier once set for 2013. In a Sept. 7 news release, after test flights resumed following a three-month halt due to an engine fire, the company said entry into service “remains on track for the second half of 2015.”

Bombardier has been shifting its language in recent weeks to show 2015 as a target for certification, not delivery, as analysts speculated that the smaller CS100 model wouldn’t make it to market this year. As Bombardier tries to move beyond its signature regional jets and compete with the smallest Boeing Co. and Airbus Group NV models, CSeries development costs have ballooned to $5.4 billion, at least $2 billion over budget.

‘Significant Progress’

Bellemare’s predecessor, Pierre Beaudoin, was asked in January by an analyst on a conference call whether the late-2015 timetable remained in effect. He answered “yes,” and then went on to say that Bombardier was “making significant progress to be able to certify in the second half of 2015.”

“With certification of the program planned for the end of 2015, you don’t do a delivery before the start of the next year anyway,” Bellemare said Friday.

Bombardier shares declined 0.4 percent to C$2.50 at the close of trading in Toronto. They have fallen 40 percent this year, compared with a 0.3 percent gain for the S&P/TSX Industrials Index.

Bombardier is more than halfway through a 2,400-flight hour test program for the CSeries, and the plane’s performance is “really very good,” Bellemare said Friday.

The Montreal-based company has said the CSeries, which features a new geared turbofan engine from United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney unit, will cost about 15 percent less to operate, cut fuel consumption about 20 percent and produce less noise than competing jets from Boeing and Airbus.

‘Strategic Options’

“When you are building a plane that will be in service for 25 or 30 years, the most important thing is whether your plane is performing, and whether you are meeting your operating cost goals for operators,” Bellemare said. “Right now, we’re in a good situation.”

Bellemare spoke to reporters after shareholders approved a C$1.1 billion ($875 million) equity issue that the company announced last month. Together with a $2.25 billion debt sale, the transaction will give Bombardier “the financial capacity to complete our projects,” the CEO said.

Now that the financing is done, Bombardier is “looking at all sorts of strategic options” for its aerospace and trainmaking units, Bellemare said. Possibilities could include strategic alliances, partnerships, joint ventures and asset sales, according to the CEO.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...cseries-debut-to-2016-as-timeline-slips-again


/sigh

 

[Ockie]

3rd Biggest Customer for Cseries airliner having second thoughts

Bombardier Inc.’s third-biggest CSeries customer is rethinking its order, blaming mounting delays and the lack of financing available for Russian companies.

Moscow-based Ilyushin Finance Co. said Wednesday it is “re-evaluating” its order for up to 49 of the jetliners. IFC announced a firm order for 32 of the larger CS300 aircraft in 2013 with options for 10 more. The company added a conditional order for another seven during the Farnborough International Airshow last July, but didn’t publicly announce it.

“We are not happy with another delay of the program, that costs us a lot of money, and the continuing lack of support of [Export Development Canada],” Elena Rubtsova, deputy director general at IFC, said in an email to the Financial Post Wednesday.

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“As you know, EDC has stopped all the export financing for Russian clients,” she added. “Market financing for the new type of aircraft, like the CSeries, is extremely expensive and rarely available today.”

The news that IFC is re-evaluating its CSeries order, first reported by industry website Flightglobal.com, comes less than two weeks after Bombardier CEO Alain Bellemare confirmed that the aircraft won’t begin commercial flights until 2016, three years later than originally planned.

It also follows Export Development Canada’s decision to stop all business in Russia due to sanctions imposed by the federal government in response to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

“The guidance that EDC has received from the Government regarding the sanctions has been to not provide support for transactions in Russia, across all business lines, which would unfortunately include IFC at this time,” EDC spokesman Phil Taylor said by email.

Bombardier spokeswoman Marianella de la Barrera said representatives from IFC visited the company’s facility in Mirabel, Que., last week for a “program review,” but she couldn’t provide any details about the discussions.

Former Bombardier Inc CEO Pierre Beaudoin took a 14% pay cut in 2014



Pierre Beaudoin, the former CEO of Bombardier Inc., took a 14% pay cut in 2014 as the company struggled to get its flagship CSeries jetliner to market.

Read more
“We have a solid relationship with them. They’re a very valued customer of ours and we do have a firm agreement in place,” she said. “We’re confident we can work together to overcome any of the concerns they may have raised.”

Bombardier has had difficulties with IFC in the past. The aviation lessor had signed a letter of intent for 50 Q400 turboprops in 2013 that were to be assembled in Russia under a joint venture between Bombardier and Rostec, but that deal was put on ice as the Ukrainian conflict escalated.



If IFC does cancel its order, that would bring the number of firm CSeries orders down to 211, well short of the 300-order target Bombardier hopes to hit by the time the aircraft enters into service early next year.

It would also be another major blow in what is shaping up to be a make-or-break year for the Montreal-based company. Since mid-January, Bombardier has replaced its CEO, suspended its dividend, halted development of a new Learjet, raised $2.4 billion in new capital to shore up its balance sheet, hiked the cost of the CSeries program by another US$1 billion, and delayed its entry-into-service date for a third time.

Steve Hansen, who follows Bombardier for Raymond James, said a cancellation of IFC’s order would “represent a significant blow to the

program’s backlog and reputation.” Canaccord Genuity analyst David Tyerman agreed, saying it would “obviously be negative,” but pointed out that Bombardier has a strong list of potential orders that have yet to be firmed up, including 103 letters of intent.

http://business.financialpost.com/n...gest-cseries-customer-re-evaluating-its-order

 

[Ockie]

Bombardier says CSeries to be certified this year

PARIS, April 9
PARIS, April 9 (Reuters) - Canadian planemaker Bombardier expects its long-delayed CSeries passenger jet to receive certification in 2015, enabling the aircraft to start operating soon afterwards, a company executive said on Thursday.

"The CSeries will be certified this year and enter service shortly thereafter," Ross Mitchell, vice-president business acquisition at Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, said at an aerospace conference hosted by the Economist magazine in Paris.

The aircraft has completed 1,300 hours of flight testing including most performance tests, with the focus now turning towards avionics, Mitchell said.

It has just completed an icing test, he added.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/09/bombardier-cseries-idUSWEB00RXD20150409

 

[garyc]

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/two-cseries-variants-going-to-paris-cs300-to-join-flying-412232/

Two CSeries variants going to Paris, CS300 to join flying display

Bombardier confirms both CSeries variants will be featured in the static display at the Paris air show next month, while one of the aircraft – the first CS300 test vehicle – will participate in the flying display.

The arrival of both aircraft in Paris will mark an abrupt change from one year ago, when an engine problem forced Bombardier’s CS100 test vehicle to miss a debut appearance at the Farnborough air show.

It will also spectacularly herald the arrival of a new management and sales team within Bombardier’s commercial aircraft division.

In the last two months, Bombardier has announced appointing former airline and leasing company executive Fred Cromer to be the new head of commercial aircraft, replacing former automobile industry executive Mike Arcamone.

Meanwhile, Colin Bole began as Bombardier’s top commercial aircraft salesman on 11 May after departing Intrepid Aviation as chief commercial officer.

Bombardier has previously said that the CS100 would likely make a debut appearance in Paris, but the participation of the stretched CS300 had not been discussed before.

Since completing first flight two months ago, the CS300 – also known as FTV-7 – has cleared initial handling tests with about 100 flight hours so far, Cromer said in a 12 May press conference at the Regional Airline Association convention in Cleveland.

“It flies just like the CS100,” he says.

It will be joined in Paris by the first CS100 test aircraft with a completed interior – FTV-5.

Bombardier also will display the CRJ1000 regional jet and the Q400 turboprop at the Paris static display.

 

[Ockie]

Bombardier Weighs Third CSeries Jet Model

Bombardier Inc.’s new commercial aircraft boss said Thursday that it is considering of a third model of its new CSeries jetliner that could compete with the core single-aisle jet offerings from its European and American rivals.

Bombardier’s current CSeries jets compete with the smallest models from Boeing Co. and Airbus Group NV. The Canadian company has struggled with slow sales, delays, and high costs for developing those models. A third model would compete in the huge market for single-aisle jets with roughly 160 to 180 seats, said Fred Cromer, president of Bombardier’s commercial aircraft division.

“We’re seeing opportunities where a next version of this plane can be more of a reality,” Mr. Cromer said in an interview.

Bombardier is currently progressing through flight testing of the first two CSeries models. Certification of the 125-seat CS100 is about 70% complete and the jet is on track for regulatory approvals by year-end and entry into service in mid-2016—about 2½ years after it was first expected. The larger CS300, which seats as many as 160 people in a high-density arrangement, is expected to follow six months later.

A notional third model, dubbed the CS500, would compete with larger versions of coming updated models of Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A320 that have sold by the thousands since 2010.

Mr. Cromer indicated Bombardier needs to get through testing the first two models to determine if there is an opportunity for a CS500 that might use the same wings, for example, a major cost savings. He said it is too soon to discuss potential specification or capacity for a new model, but that “it would have to be” aimed to compete with the most popular models of the 737 and A320 “otherwise we wouldn’t do it.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/bombardier-weighs-third-cseries-jet-model-1432239757

 

[Ockie]

AIRSHOW-Bombardier management in spotlight as CSeries jet debuts in Paris

June 11 Bombardier Inc's CSeries passenger jet will finally debut at the Paris Airshow this month, but the event will also let the Canadian company show off what may be an even more important asset: its new management team.

With the CSeries nearing certification by regulators after years of delays and cost overruns, Paris offers an opportunity for Bombardier to improve a weak order book by clinching new sales, or at least laying the groundwork for future deals.

The event is also a debut of sorts for the company's new Chief Executive Alain Bellemare and the team he has assembled to get the CSeries program back on track.

The Montreal-based planemaker has not announced a single firm CSeries order since September, and none of the tentative orders announced around last year's Farnborough International Air Show in Britain have been converted to firm orders.

Analysts have long urged Bombardier to be more aggressive to win orders, offering risky walk-away rights and other allowances that could see the program losing money for years.

"This is a long game, and you had the old management just in complete denial," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Virginia-based Teal Group. "What you've got is a management team that now recognizes market reality. You want a strategic win? It's going to cost you."

Bellemare, who touts the aircraft's efficiency, is cautious about sales strategy, promising to do right by both buyers and shareholders.

"We understand the dynamic of the market and we will do what is right for the business," he said in a recent Reuters interview.

Bellemare, a former United Technologies executive, in February took the reins from Pierre Beaudoin, whose family controls the company.

He has hired other industry veterans to fill key roles. In April, former International Lease Finance Corp president Fred Cromer became president of commercial aircraft, replacing Mike Arcamone, who had been with General Motors before joining Bombardier in 2012.

"Rivals used to dismiss the CSeries for its delays and its management for being automotive specialists," said one source familiar with the company. "They can't say that now."

Bombardier, which estimates the capital cost of the CSeries at $5.4 billion, has booked 243 firm orders since 2009, and is targeting 300 before entry into service, expected in the first half of 2016. Rival Embraer SA has announced 242 firm orders for its similar E-Jet E2 since 2013.

Lufthansa's Swiss International is a key customer but many other orders are small or conditional.

U.S. regional carrier Republic Airways has a firm order for 40 jets but plans to simplify its operations and many in the industry expect it will re-sell the planes.

Russian lessor Ilyushin Finance Corp has complained about CSeries delays and said it hopes to revise its deal, perhaps at the Paris show.

"We are all questioning the quality of the backlog and the quality of the airlines," said a fund manager at a large Canadian firm that is a major Bombardier investor. The company says it has a high-quality order book.

A large new order from a blue-chip airline would help restore confidence in the CSeries, and reassure other potential customers that the plane will have resale value.

But while its rivals have touted big anticipated orders, Bombardier has been tempering expectations ahead of Paris, saying it is still working on a new sales strategy.

"Anything would be good," said the Canadian fund manager. "If they came out of Paris with 20 or 30 firm orders that would be excellent."

Macquarie analyst Konark Gupta expects to see some non-binding letters of intent announced rather than a large number of firm orders.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/11/airshow-paris-bombardier-idUSL1N0YX10N20150611

 

[Ockie]

Nice to see this beauty in airline livery.

 

[Ockie]

Bombardier says CSeries exceeding performance targets

PARIS (Reuters) - Bombardier's BBDb.TO new CSeries narrow-body jet is outperforming expectations for fuel efficiency and performance, the Canadian manufacturer said on Sunday, as it tries to boost sales of the plane.

Bombardier said flight test results showed the plane was exceeding initial targets for fuel burn, payload, range and airfield performance. The jet can fly a maximum range of up to 3,300 nautical miles, 350 nautical miles further than originally anticipated.

In terms of fuel burn, it is delivering a 20 percent advantage compared with existing aircraft and offers a 10 percent benefit against new engine aircraft, Bombardier Commercial President Fred Cromer told journalists at an event ahead of the Paris Airshow, which begins on Monday.

The CSeries is Bombardier's largest jet with up to 160 seats and represents its push to compete in the market for smaller narrow-bodies dominated by Boeing BA.N and Airbus AIR.PA with the 737 and the A320 respectively.

The smaller CS100 is due to be certified at the end of this year, with entry into service in 2016.

"We are very excited. We are beating the initial brochure for this aircraft," Cromer said. "It will make ... selling the aircraft a bit easier."

The Montreal-based planemaker has not announced a single firm CSeries order since September, and none of the tentative orders announced around last year's Farnborough International Airshow in Britain have been converted to firm orders.

Colin Bole, senior vice president of sales and asset management, said the company expected some orders to be firmed up but declined to comment on timing.

"We will finalize transactions when they are right. We let them mature, we're not going to be pushed into finalizing deals at an air show when it's not in the interest of our customer or shareholders," he said.


He also said Bombardier was seeing significant interest in the jet from lessors and interest from all kinds of airlines.

"I'm very favorably impressed to see the interest coming from all the key geographical regions of the world, and all airlines types -- legacy, regional, and perhaps surprisingly to some the low-cost carriers and charter carriers", he told journalists.

Two test planes are at the Paris Airshow, including one in the colors of launch operator Swiss LHAG.DE, marking the CSeries' debut at an air show.

Bombardier also on Sunday released its annual market forecast, saying it expected 7,000 aircraft deliveries in the 100-150 seat segment from 2015 to 2034.

http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCAKBN0OU0EE20150614?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

 

[Ockie]

20 percent advantage compared with existing aircraft and offers a 10 percent benefit against new engine aircraft

That is massive.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

That is massive.

True that,
Unfortunantly bombadier has to bribe the right officials to get orders,

Boeing and airbus aren't shy of bribing customers, so bombadier must grease a few palms to get orders,

Unfortunantly this is the ugly world we live in....

 

[Ockie]

AIRSHOW-Airbus on CSeries: 'nice little airplane', but no threat

PARIS, June 18 | By Victoria Bryan
PARIS, June 18 Airbus Group SE sales chief John Leahy on Thursday brushed off the idea Bombardier Inc's new CSeries jet might pose a competitive threat.

The CSeries, which is in the midst of flight testing, made its air show debut in Paris with two test planes. Montreal-based Bombardier has not announced a firm order for the jet since September.

Asked whether he was worried about the possibility Bombardier might develop a bigger CSeries jet that would compete more directly with Airbus's bestselling A320, sales chief John Leahy replied "no."

"I don't mean to insult Montreal in any way, but the last couple of years I've not really noticed they're much of a competitive threat to us or Boeing," said Leahy, at the company's closing Paris Airshow news conference.

He said Bombardier's executive chairman, Pierre Beaudoin, had invited him to see the CSeries a few days earlier.

Leahy praised the jet's interior and added: "He's got a nice little airplane there, but no, I'm not too worried."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/18/airshow-france-bombardier-idUSL1N0Z41JC20150618

 

[Ockie]

P&W discloses new engine option for CSeries

Pratt & Whitney is rolling out a new, higher-thrust version of the PW1500G engine for the Bombardier CSeries aircraft family in the next two to three months.

The new PW1525G will become the fourth engine option for the CS100 and the third option available for the CS300.

P&W is developing the new version of the engine to offer up to 5% higher thrust when the aircraft is moving faster than roughly Mach 0.1 and at the maximum continuous thrust rating in flight.

In static conditions, when the aircraft is not moving, the PW1525G will generate the same thrust as the PW1524G, which is rated to deliver up to 23,300lb thrust.

The additional thrust requires no hardware changes within the engine.

“We have a certain amount of design margin we have found in the engine,” Graham Webb, vice-president of PW1000G-series engines, tells Flightglobal.

But running the engine at the higher rating will expose the components to hotter temperatures, so maintenance costs will increase, Webb says.

A new software update for the PW1500G engine fleet is scheduled for release in September or October, and that version will enable the higher-thrust capability of the PW1525G, he says. The precise timing will depend on approval by Transport Canada.

The PW1525G option – first disclosed in a Bombardier sales brochure posted online in July – will allow a CSeries operator to carry a heavier load of passengers and cargo, or more range or some combination of the two.

It is revealed only two months after Bombardier announced a 5% increase in the maximum range for the CS100 and CS300, which rose to 3,100nm (5,741km) and 3,300nm, respectively.

The 108-seat CS100 is entering the last five months of an extended, 2.5-year flight testing phase, with delivery to launch operator Swiss International Air Lines scheduled for early next year.

As the performance of the aircraft shows steady improvement over original promises, a new group of Bombardier leaders are attempting to sign new orders. The company is in talks with about six potential customers, Bombardier chief executive Alain Bellemare told market analysts in late July.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/pampw-discloses-new-engine-option-for-cseries-415481/

 

[Ockie]

Bombardier shares get lift on update that CSeries on track

MONTREAL - Bombardier's battered shares got a lift Thursday after the transportation company said its CSeries commercial aircraft in on track for certification this year.

A day after dipping to a 23-year low of $1.15, Bombardier's shares closed up eight cents or nearly seven per cent at $1.27 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, after having been up as much as 10 per cent earlier in the session.

Earlier, the Montreal-based company said the CS100 has completed 2,250 flight test hours, representing more than 80 per cent of the required testing.

"The CSeries continues to impress and is on track to achieving certification later this year and we continue to work with first operator Swiss as it readies for entry-into-service in the first half of 2016," said Fred Cromer, president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft.

Bombardier (TSX:BBD.B) says the plane is undergoing noise testing which it expects will confirm it is the quietest commercial jet in production.

Earlier in the summer, Bombardier announced that the aircraft's maximum range was 11 per cent greater than targeted at 6,112 kilometres. It is also using 20 per cent less fuel than other aircraft in operation and some 10 per cent better fuel burn than rival planes equipped with new engines.

Walter Spracklin of RBC Capital Markets says the update assuages concerns that Bombardier would announce another delay.

"The strong performance data, coupled with further progress on the development side, should help management on future sales campaigns — and as such, help provide some relief to the deep negative sentiment pervasive on the shares," he wrote in a report.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/busi...update+that+CSeries+track/11304794/story.html

 

[Ockie]

Bombardier CSeries a tough sell as used-jet market sputters back to life

Bombardier Inc. packed the CSeries airliner with new features to help carriers cut operating costs. What it didn’t count on was cheap jet kerosene giving new life to older fuel guzzlers.

Secondhand Airbus Group SE and Boeing Co. planes are being snapped up by airlines, crimping Bombardier’s efforts to stir demand for its marquee $5.4 billion program. Data compiled for Bloomberg by Flightglobal’s Ascend Fleets show almost 1,000 sales and leases of used A319s and 737-700s since the start of 2011 — about four times as many as the CSeries’s firm orders ever.

“Lower oil prices are not conducive to selling fancy technology that saves you fuel,” said Adam Pilarski, senior vice president for aerospace consultant Avitas Inc.

The Ascend Fleets tally exposes the pressure on the CSeries from 130-seat jets in the used-aircraft market. Mired in a CSeries sales drought dating to September 2014, Bombardier is bleeding cash because of development delays and has Canada’s worst-performing industrial stock of 2015.

Bombardier unveiled the CSeries a month after oil’s $145-a- barrel peak in 2008, touting advances such as a composite fuselage and a first-of-its-kind engine. The company offers two versions, with as many as 160 seats, at prices topping out at $82 million.

There was sales trouble from the start as airlines chose bigger, more-efficient Airbus and Boeing models over the CSeries, said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with consultant Teal Group. Buyers made room for those planes by dumping older A319s and 737-700s, crushing prices in the niche targeted by Bombardier.

Capital costs fell so low for the used models that lessors and airlines judged them to be less expensive to own and operate than the CSeries even at $100-a-barrel crude. Now, with oil plunging to about a third of its record, carriers have even less incentive to pick the newer, cutting-edge option over older jets.

“It will be a while before we start to see those retired,” said George Dimitroff, head of valuations at consultant Ascend Worldwide. “It has definitely hurt early sales of the CSeries.”

Buyers scouting the aerospace industry’s bargain bin aren’t just cash-strapped startups. When United Airlines sought more small single-aisle planes earlier this year, it opted to lease 11 used A319s from AerCap Holdings NV and said it was considering 14 more.

The CSeries is a pillar of the growth strategy at Montreal- based Bombardier, which predicted last year the model would produce as much as $8 billion in new annual revenue by decade’s end. While firm orders are stuck at 243, Bombardier is seeing “fresh momentum,” Commercial Aircraft President Fred Cromer said last week, reaffirming a target of 300 by the the time the jet enters service next year.

“Some discussions are maybe a little bit slower” because of the slump in fuel prices, Cromer said in an interview. “But most planning departments are looking at these decisions for the long term.”

Cromer is among the leaders brought in by new Chief Executive Officer Alain Bellemare, who took over in February. He reorganized his management team and set in motion an initial public offering for the rail unit to help bolster cash holdings drained by at least $2 billion in overruns on the CSeries. But even after a rally last week that was the most in Bloomberg data dating to 1988, the Class B shares were down 59 percent this year through Wednesday.

For some buyers, Bombardier’s promise of fuel savings over current jet models may be too small at current prices to overcome the significantly lower capital or lease costs for used jets, Dimitroff said.

A 10-year-old Airbus A319 now leases for $155,000 a month, compared with the “very high $200,000s or low $300,000s” for a CSeries, Dimitroff said. A customer that opted to buy on the secondhand market would also pay about half as much, he said. Technical advances make the CSeries a good aircraft with long- term sales potential, but it came to market at an “unfortunate” time, Dimitroff said.

“All eyes will be focused on the introduction, how well it goes, how well the initial dispatch reliability is,” said John Plueger, president of Air Lease Corp., the jet lessor he co- founded with Steven Udvar-Hazy.

“That’s the first major component,” Plueger said. “The second is a few more significant, large-scale orders with significant airline customers. If both of those things happen, the CSeries will be under way. If one or more of those things does not happen, the CSeries is a great airplane, but there’s more of a wait-and-see attitude.”

http://montrealgazette.com/business...sell-as-used-jet-market-sputters-back-to-life

 

[Ockie]

Seems Bombardier have been in talks with Airbus regarding the Cseries. My guess is they want to sell the design of the Cseries to Airbus?

 

[garyc]

Seems Bombardier have been in talks with Airbus regarding the Cseries. My guess is they want to sell the design of the Cseries to Airbus?

And now they have stopped talking to each other.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/bombardier-and-airbus-break-off-secret-talks-417473/

 

[Ockie]

And now they have stopped talking to each other.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/bombardier-and-airbus-break-off-secret-talks-417473/

Ah ok. Can I ask a favour? Can you paste that article for me on here so I can read it? Blocked on my pc

 

[garyc]

Ah ok. Can I ask a favour? Can you paste that article for me on here so I can read it? Blocked on my pc

Here it is:

Bombardier and Airbus confirm that they held talks regarding “business opportunities” but the discussions “are no longer being pursued”.

Both companies issued statements to contradict reports saying such talks were still underway. The initial reports immediately improved Bombardier’s share price.

But Airbus quickly released a statement confirming that talks occurred, but clarified that “such discussions are no longer being pursued”.

Bombardier attributed the discussions to the company’s broader strategic review initiated when Alain Bellemare became chief executive earlier this year, taking over as delays and weak sales of the CSeries and other development programmes put the company in a financial crisis.

“As previously mentioned, Bombardier will continue to explore initiatives such as a potential participation in industry consolidation,” Bombardier says in a statement.

But the confirmation that Bombardier and Airbus had met to consider opportunities seemed a significant surprise. For several years, the Canadian manufacturer had collaborated with Chinese manufacturer Comac, attempting to increase the level of commonality between the CSeries and the C919.

Airbus, however, seemed only interested in burying the CSeries in the marketplace. Airbus chief operating officer John Leahy has openly talked of his desire to use the market power of the A320 and A320neo family to deny sales to the smaller CSeries family.

Meanwhile, the 110-seat CS100 version of the CSeries family is nearing certification later this year and entry into service in the first half of next year with Swiss International Air Lines, followed by the debut of the CS300 six months later.

In recent weeks, Bombardier executives have spoken about refocusing sales efforts on securing “marquee” deals with a small number of major customers, using a revamped sales team headed recently hired head salesman Colin Bole.

The company’s business challenge is compounded by the looming cost of ramping up CSeries production, even as development continues on the Global 7000 and Global 8000 business jets.

In August, Moody’s warned that Bombardier’s cash position could decline to a minimum level of $2 billion next August, given current spending trends.