Bombardier declares it has not encountered an aircraft sales campaign for its new CSeries aircraft where it lost out against the re-engined Airbus A320neo.
Bombardier Aerospace president Guy Hachey made that assertion during a 31 March earnings call, where he stressed that the 100- to -130 seat CSeries doesn't compete directly with the A320neo.
"We compete against the A319," says Hachey. "I don't know if there will be an A319neo or not." The standard configuration for the A319 is 124 seats.
Previously Airbus has stated the A321neo will follow six months after the spring 2016 service entry of the A320neo, and the A319neo's debut will follow a half-year after the A321neo enters service.
Hachey assures that over the last 10 months Bombardier has seen a renewal of interest in the CSeries. With just two-and-a-half years left before service entry, Bombardier is getting to a general inflection point and the airframer expects sales movement on the CSeries this year.
Emphasising with each month that passes the CSeries "becomes more and more real", Hachey predicts "a lot of activity in 2011" in terms of intake.
Bombardier is taking great care to ensure an on-time service entry for the CSeries, and holds discussions with customers regarding timing and performance guarantees, Hachey says.
In those talks Bombardier stresses its experience in working in a global production framework. "We know how to manage a decentralised supply chain," Hachey declares. He admits in some cases that's compelling to customers and in other cases, "there is still doubt".
Reiterating the technical progress of the aircraft Hachey states: "A year ago we were dealing with 'this is not a real engine', now everyone agrees the GTF [P&W geared turbofan] is a real engine and validated in the market place."
Both the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G and the CFM International Leap X have are A320neo powerplant options. P&W so far has secured geared turbofan supply deals with lessor International Lease Finance Corporation and A320neo customer IndiGo.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
