American Airlines has deemed Bombardier's CSeries airliner to be "definitely worth considering" as it looks to scale capacity to match growth forecasted for the rest of this decade.
Chief executive Gerard Arpey says the CSeries' airframe/engine combination "does look compelling", although he cautions that his airline's labour agreements are not constructed in a way that allows easy introduction of new fleet types, citing training provisions.
Arpey argues for changing the agreements. "You don't have to train everybody through every aircraft type you have," he says. "There are ways to do it that are smarter and would be good for the company and pilots."
Any decision regarding introducing new aircraft types at American depends on discussions with pilots, but the chief executive believes aspects of the CSeries could "be of interest to us and our pilots".
Source: Flight International
