Airbus insists it is ready to embark fully on CSeries marketing once acquisition of the programme from Bombardier is complete, a closure it expects to occur much earlier than originally expected.
Chief financial officer Harald Wilhelm says progress on the acquisition, including the regulatory side, has been "great".
"It should allow us to close much faster than assumed," he says, stating that the two airframers could "potentially accelerate" the closing towards mid-year.
Airbus expects to disclose around the half-year mark the financial effects of the CSeries acquisition on the remainder of 2018, as well as developments for 2019 and beyond.
While the European airframer cannot engage in commercial action or address the supply chain, Wilhelm says: "We have teams at work on the Bombardier side, and our side, to prepare for day one."
He says the airframer will be "ready on the day we close to hit the market in this segment"
Wilhelm adds that Airbus will leverage its sales force and use its influence on the supply chain and procurement side to bring recurring costs of the aircraft down and sell it in "big volumes".
Source: Cirium Dashboard
