Bombardier's confirmation of a CSeries order from Macquarie is another step in validating the programme with the aircraft leasing community.
The Australian bank will acquire as many as 50 CS300s – 40 firm and 10 options – via leasing arm Macquarie AirFinance.
Macquarie AirFinance is among the top 15 operating lessors, and with this commitment the Canadian manufacturer is progressing its ambition to break into the elite of top lessors.
Lessors have committed more to the in-development CSeries since July than at any other time since the programme was launched.
On the eve of the Farnborough air show, Bombardier secured two letters of intent for up to 24 CSeries aircraft from another lessor, Falko.
Flightglobal understands that one letter of intent covers 20 aircraft and the second the remaining four units.
At the air show, the manufacturer disclosed a conditional purchase agreement from an unidentified customer, rumoured to be Russian lessor Ilyushin Finance. The transaction includes seven additional CS300s plus purchase rights for another six.
Bombardier also expanded its airline customer base at Farnborough.
It unveiled Chinese carrier Loong Air as a customer through a letter of intent covering 20 CS100s and a commitment from Jordan-based Petra Airlines for two firm CS100s and two CS300 options.
The manufacturer also landed its first African customer for the CSeries, with a letter of intent signed for five aircraft.
The CSeries has sold reasonably well into the leasing community, but none of the top 10 largest lessors have committed to the programme, preferring to stay in the more liquid narrowbody market with the Airbus A320 family and Boeing 737 Next-Generation products and their re-engined versions.
"There is interest and it is a matter of time," says a source at the manufacturer.
Flightglobal understands that Bombardier is in advanced talks with two operating lessors, among them one lessor based in Europe.
The leasing market for sub-120-seat regional jets took a turn four years ago when GECAS and Air Lease placed orders for the Embraer E-Jets. The first E-Jets started to deliver in 2004, but until 2010 the lessor's presence had mainly been restricted to two leasing companies – Aldus Aviation and Jetscape – in terms of new orders.
The leasing community continued to place orders in 2011, with CDB Leasing agreeing to acquire up to 20 Embraer 190s in January 2011. BOC Aviation and CIT Aerospace followed that year with more orders.
Los Angeles-based lessor ILFC, now part of AerCap, was the first lessor to commit to the Embraer E2 family at last year's Paris air show. It is the launch customer of the 97-seat E190-E2 model through a 100-aircraft letter of commitment, which also includes the larger 118-seat E195-E2 variant.
At Farnborough, Embraer revealed that ICBC Leasing had placed 10 firm orders for the E190-E2s, taking purchase rights on 10 more.
The E-Jet programme accounts more than 20 leasing companies (either through ownership or fleet management), Flightglobal's Ascend Fleets database shows. But still the majority of them have become lessors via the second-hand market and acquisitions with leases attached.
Bombardier knows the importance of lessors. In the past, the Canadian manufacturer has publicly said that it expects to sell up to 50% of all CSeries aircraft to leasing companies.
Lease Corporation International became the first leasing entity to commit to the new programme in March 2009, days after the Lufthansa 30 CS100 launch commitment. The lessor placed orders for three CS100s and 17 CS300s, and took 20 options.
In October 2013, Bombardier disclosed a 15-aircraft order, including five CS100s and 15 CS300s, as well as 15 options, from China's CDB Leasing.
Before the show, Bombardier had booked orders and commitments for 447 CSeries aircraft, which included firm orders for 203 units.
Lessors represented 33% of the firm-order part of the orderbook. The Macquarie 40-aircraft order boosts lessors' exposure to 44%.
At the general assembly of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) in Barcelona, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft vice-president of business acquisition Ross Mitchell labelled Macquarie an excellent customer for Bombardier.
"They will broaden our customer base and assist us greatly," he says.
But Mitchell wouldn't speculate on what it takes to break into the top-lessor echelons.
"We see what happens with other lessors. For now we are quite content with our group of lessors," he says.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
