International Aero Engines (IAE) walked away from negotiations with Canadian manufacturer Bombardier over next generation engines for the CSeries airliner because "commercial agreement was impossible", IAE president Mark King said at Le Bourget yesterday.
"There is currently no other viable application for the proposed engine, and to justify the development costs we would have to sell a lot of them and we simply couldn't see that happening," says King.
"However, we learned a great deal during the discussions and I wish Bombardier good luck for the future.
Experience
"Overall it was a very positive experience. The most challenging part was the 2010 dateline but we delivered a proposal that was pretty darned close to what they wanted, technically.
"In the end, though, we had to take a judgement based on risk and cost and decided - with full agreement from our four major shareholders - that we couldn't go ahead."
Commenting on the need for a new IAE engine to pick up the baton currently held by the hugely successful V2500-series for the Airbus A320 family of airliners, King says IAE now has the process in place to produce a new engine whenever the market is ready.
"We talk to Airbus and Boeing all the time," he says, "and any new powerplants for narrowbody airliners in the B-737/A320 classes will be all about technology, and the environment."
GEOFF THOMAS
Source: Flight Daily News
