Ockie
Resident Lead Bender
MONTREAL— It sounds unusually categorical: easyJet Airline Co., it appears, is about to order some CSeries airliners from Bombardier Inc., perhaps at the Paris air show next month.
The order could come as part of a huge order from the British low-cost carrier based at London’s Luton Airport for more than 100 jets from Airbus SAS or Boeing Co. — and Bombardier. It would break the single-aircraft-type model for the budget airline, now the biggest in the U.K. in terms of passengers carried, that now flies only Airbus A319s and A320s. The CSeries competes head-on with the A319, but also indirectly with the A320.
In a teleconference call after quarterly results, easyJet chief executive officer Carolyn McCall said that “our future order will be for Airbus or Boeing, but also for Bombardier (aircraft).”
Bombardier Aerospace spokesperson Marc Duchesne confirmed his company is negotiating with easyJet, but said he could not provide any details of those talks.
“We’re talking with them as we are with many, many other airlines about the CSeries, the best aircraft for the next 25 years,” Duchesne said.
The airliner’s first flight is due by the end of June. President Pierre Beaudoin and Bombardier Aerospace president Guy Hachey declined to specify after the company’s recent annual meeting of shareholders the timing of the first flight — whether it will be before the air show at Le Bourget between June 17 and 23, during that trade show, or after.
Bombardier can’t fly the CSeries to the Paris air show for various regulatory reasons, but a maiden flight from Mirabel televised live to a captive audience at the Paris event would be a show-stopper — a huge publicity boon, as well as a long-awaited milestone for airlines that have not stormed the gates to buy the aircraft in full-scale development since 2008.
It would not be the first time a discount carrier moves away from the single-type fleet pioneered by Southwest Airlines, which also flies B717s.
EasyJet is diversifying from its pure low-cost model to attract higher-paying business travellers.
Its 138 Airbus 319s seat 156 passengers, while the CSeries’ CS300 model will seat up to 160 people — upped recently by Bombardier from the original limit of 149 seats.
EasyJet is apparently interested in the 150-seat and below, a niche neither Airbus nor Boeing serve.
Benoit Poirier of Desjardins Securities wrote in a report that the CSeries, which is designed to cut fuel costs by 20 per cent over comparable existing airplanes, would be applied to thinner routes and city airports in Europe.
“We believe Bombardier’s new plane would be a good fit due to the superior efficiencies of the CSeries,” Poirier said.
“We suspect the announcement could be made at the upcoming Paris Air Show.”
Air Canada is also poised to put out requests for proposals to replace its more than 100 narrowbody aircraft this year, and Poirier expects the CSeries to be in the mix.
The orders could provide a needed boost to Bombardier’s lacklustre stock performance.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/EasyJet+hints+CSeries+order/8396899/story.html
This could be just the boost that the CSeries order book needs. I hope it comes through.
I think it is such a snazy and sexy little plane....and the fact that it is powered by P&W geared turbofan which in my view is a leap forward in airliner propulsion is simply fantastic. I cant wait for the first flight ... then we will see if this little plane really can provide 20% savings on fuel and 4x less noise than Boeing or Airbus. If you ever do get to fly on one...then you better take a video for me ok?