Bombardier will deliver less than half of the CSeries family aircraft as expected this year due to production ramp-up delays by the engine supplier, the Canadian manufacturer says.
The announcement on 6 September reveals productions issues are becoming critical for the geared turbofan programme shortly after Pratt & Whitney declared victory over teething issues that crippled Airbus’s planned ramp-up of A320neo deliveries in the first half of the year.
Bombardier now plans to deliver seven CSeries aircraft this year, or eight fewer deliveries than the company planned. The reduction means Bombardier report lower revenues at Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, but remain within the lower end of the company’s original guidance of $16.5 billion to $17.5 billion. Operating profits, however, should not be affected materially, staying at the upper range of Bombardier’s forecast $200 to $400 million.
Despite the engine-induced delay, the first CS300 is on track to be delivered to AirBaltic in the fourth quarter, Bombardier says.
“We are working very closely with Pratt & Whitney to quickly address this supplier ramp-up issue and to ensure we have a strong supplier base to support our long-term growth objectives,” says Fred Cromer, president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. “We are very confident in our production ramp-up plan, including our ability to meet our production goal of 90 to 120 aircraft per year by 2020.”
So far, P&W parent United Technologies has not changed full-year guidance for 200 geared turbofan engine deliveries spread across two production programmes — CSeries and A320neo — and three developmental efforts — Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), Embraer E2 regional jet and Irkut MS-21.
The company produced 60 engines in the first half of 2016, including at least 36 delivered to customers.
“In terms of production, we’ve made significant headway in the supply chain, but there is some pressure on new engine deliveries for this year,” P&W says. “We are working closely with our customers on the delivery schedule, and we are keeping them apprised of the progress being made.”
Early deliveries of the PW1100G that powers the A320neo were bedeviled by teething issues. Most notably, an unexpectedly intense rotor bow effect extended motor-to-start timing by several minutes, causing some customers, such as Qatar Airways, to forego early deliveries until the problem was fixed. P&W has since incorporated hardware and software changes in the PW1100G to speed up the motor-to-start sequence.
The rotor-bow effect never hampered the motor-to-start sequence of other versions of the geared turbofan, including the PW1500G that powers the CSeries family. Instead, delays for P&W’s planned production ramp-up — the fastest by far in the company’s history — has disrupted Bombardier’s delivery schedule.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
