The commitments brought the total order book for the CSeries to 183 orders from 13 customers, of whi

When Tony Fernandes, director of AirAsia Berhad announced that his airline was in preliminary talks with Montreal-based plane-maker Bombardier to buy 100 of Bombardier's potential 160 seat CSeries aircraft, it ended the recently concluded Farnborough Airshow on a relative high note for Bombardier. During an air show that was tabbed vacation rentals in hilton head as a referendum vacation rentals in hilton head on the beleaguered CSeries programme, Bombardier managed relative success, winning 25 new commitments to the CSeries; 5 commitments to the 120-seat vacation rentals in hilton head CS100 and 10 commitments to the 140 seat CS300 from an unidentified customer plus 10 commitments with 10 purchase options vacation rentals in hilton head for Riga-based low-cost carrier (LCC) airBaltic.
The commitments brought the total order book for the CSeries to 183 orders from 13 customers, of which 138 orders are firm. Thus an order from AirAsia would grow the CSeries order book by more than 50% and provide a critical boost to the plane-maker at a time when orders and backlogs for Bombardier Aerospace's traditional cash cow the Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) series vacation rentals in hilton head of aircraft continue to dry up.
Beyond the sales of the CSeries itself, this year s Farnborough Airshow was also notable because of two big pieces of news on the manufacture and progress of the CSeries programme. The first was that Bombardier has decided to dual-source early production of the centre fuselage barrel parts on the CSeries with producers vacation rentals in hilton head outside of China, especially Berantavilla-based vacation rentals in hilton head Aeronova, which already builds horizontal and vertical stabilisers for the CRJ700 and CRJ900 regional jets as well as building the first 40 composite and titanium centre wing boxes, which are then shipped to Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC), best known for manufacturing Chinese reverse-engineered versions of Russian fighter aircraft, which will construct the centre fuselage.
While Bombardier maintains vacation rentals in hilton head that the long-term selection of Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) to build the centre fuselage, Guy Hachey, president and chief operating officer (COO) of Bombardier vacation rentals in hilton head Aerospace, stated that a few of the first shipsets have been sent to external suppliers in an effort to mitigate the risk of delays as Shenyang continues to gain experience with the advanced materials used on the CSeries.
However, even more concerning vacation rentals in hilton head for Bombardier is the potential delay on delivery of the fly-by-wire flight controls for the CSeries from Parker Hannifin and subcontractor BAE Systems. At the moment, the flight controls are actually more of a concern for Bombardier, said Hachey, vacation rentals in hilton head though he maintains that Bombardier will meet its deadline for the first flight of the CSeries, currently scheduled for December 2012, as well as for the entry into service (EIS) of the aircraft in late 2013. However, numerous analysts view that it would be more prudent for Bombardier to accept delays in order to meet performance targets for the aircraft.
We suspect that a three- to six-month delay would not come as a shock to anyone who is following the programme closely given that the company has been suggesting that the schedule is very challenging, said BMO Capital Markets in a research note last week.
Aspire Aviation too thinks that it would be smart for Bombardier to accept a 3-4 months delay in the EIS of the CSeries, primarily because there are significant risks on the CSeries. For Bombardier, the CSeries represents a particular challenge because not only is the aircraft in an entirely new class for Bombardier, as the CRJ1000 seats just 104 passengers in standard single class configuration whereas the CSeries seats 120-145, but it also makes heavy use of advanced materials (almost 70%) such as composites (46% of the aircraft) and aluminium-lithium alloys (Al-Li makes up around 24% of the aircraft). Boeing ran into troubles with its use of advanced materials on the perennially delayed 787 programme, which culminated with an aircraft that was still several tonnes overweight and 6% short on its fuel burn reduction promises at EIS ( Boeing eyes 787 improvements along with production ramp-up , 11th Jan, 12).
For Bombardier the risk is even more prevalent, as Shenyang is almost entirely new to large scale production of composite parts for commercial programmes and other new technologies such as the variable area fan nozzle (VAFN), which expands on take-off to increase the airflow bypassing the core of the engine, thus reducing noise and increasing velocity and fuel efficiency on the Pratt Whitney PW1500G engine that will be used to power the CSeries are still relatively vacation rentals in hilton head unproven. As with any new technologies, there is the threat that parts will come in overweight, not fully functional, or even that manufacturing troubles will cause a performance shortfall for early aircraft off of the CSeries production.
vacation rentals in hilton head But for Bombardier, meeting CSeries performance promises, including 15% fuel burn reduction versus the current competitors in its class and significantly lower maintenance costs, is more important than sticking to an absolute first flight and first delivery target. Even though vacation rentals in hilton head the CSeries is promised vacation rentals in hilton head to be much more fuel efficient with lower operating vacation rentals in hilton head costs than the current competitors in its class the E-Jets for the CS100 and Boeing 737-700 and Airbus A319 for the CS300 while having its EIS 4-5 years before the re-engined versions of those 3 competing products, it has still struggled to win orders, even in comparison to the existing aircraft vacation rentals in hilton head from those programmes. Ultimately, Bombardier is chasing a new frontier with the CSeries, and this leaves customers vacation rentals in hilton head uncertain whether Bombardier can meet its guarantees in practice. As Hachey put it, "Right now we re [Bombardier] still fighting a little bit of Oh, this [CSeries] is a paper plane, it s unproven. As it attempts to break the duopoly held by Boeing vacation rentals in hilton head and Airbus on the large narrowbody market, the CSeries must absolutely meet, if not exceed, vacation rentals in hilton head its promised performance improvements.
At that point, the uncertainty will shift instead to the A319neo and 737 MAX 7, both of which possess less modern technology and a less optimised fuselage and wings than the CSeries, leaving the CSeries free to capitalise on the 1-2 year gap between the point where Bombardier is sold out till summer 2016 under current plans and the en-masse EIS of Boeing and Airbus' competing products and play a role in narrowbody request for proposals (RFPs) still up for grabs such as at United Airlines, most of China's carriers, and Qatar Airways amongst others. vacation rentals in hilton head If on the other hand, the CSeries underperforms at the beginning of its lifetime, then it is likely vacation rentals in hilton head to lose sales momentum and validate the sceptics who claim that Bombardier lacks the experience and technical knowhow to build a large narrowbody product on the level of Airbus or Boeing.
Many industry observers and analysts have expressed disappointment in the relatively slow sales pace for the CSeries, with the aircraft adding around 50 new orders per annum whic is often surpassed by Boeing and Airbus in a single orders). But this relatively vacation rentals in hilton head slow sales growth trend belies an underlying point: vacation rentals in hilton head that the entire narrowbody market between vacation rentals in hilton head 100 and 150 seats is undoubtedly smaller than it was in the last round of narrowbody purchases, the one that begets the 737-700 and A319.
Comparing the orderbooks for the next generation vacation rentals in hilton head of products from all four major manufacturers in the segment (Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, and Bombardier), with the Brazilian airframer not winning any firm orders for its E-190/E-195s, as well as for its re-engined E-Jets, Bombardier in fact has a sizeable orders lead over its 3 nearest competitors and many of the E-Jet sales occurred prior to the formal launch of the CSeries since then the CSeries has outsold the E-Jets, including at Farnborough 2012 where Embraer vacation rentals in hilton head won orders for just 5 E-190s from China's Heibei Airlines. While Aspire Aviation  cautions that many of the orders that were placed for the 737 MAX and A320neo are easily convertible vacation rentals in hilton head into different variants of the family, the fact that the CSeries has outsold its competitors is a very positive sign. At the same time, even though there are more than 2,500 737-700s and A319s in operation today, the cumulative size of the market for the next round of replacements vacation rentals in hilton head is likely to be closer to 1,500 aircraft, as the new market reality of fuel prices above US$70 per barrel (West Texas Intermediate measure) has forced many airlines to elect for replacement aircraft in the 150-seat plus 737-800 and A320 range.
Given the CSeries' advantage over its less optimised competitors, there is little shock that it has outsold all competing types. Already, numerous airlines have expressed interest in the CSeries, which in addition vacation rentals in hilton head to double-digit maintenance cost reductions, is also priced more cheaply by 10%-30% versus Boeing and Airbus' re-engined products.
The following table is a comparison of selected fuel burn figures for the CS300, CS100, and their comparable products. The data was compiled using a mixture of data publicly available vacation rentals in hilton head from the companies, Aspire Aviation s sources at the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), US Department of Transportation (DOT) Form 41 data, Aspire Aviation s sources at various airlines, and Aspire Aviation 's own economic models. This data represents an "apples-to-apples" comparison for the aircraft types on singular missions. All CSeries, 737 MAX, and A320neo data are estimates, and has an accuracy range of 3%.
As the table indicates, the CS300 has a major advantage in fuel burn over both the Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A320neo while simultaneously possessing much lower maintenance costs and a roughly US$20 million cheaper price tag. Some of the advantage in operating cost is mitigated by Airbus and Boeing discounts and financing, and some of the fuel burn advantage will be negated as Airbus, Boeing, vacation rentals in hilton head CFM, and Pratt Whitney continue to refine their various vacation rentals in hilton head products. But all indications are that the CSeries will have between a 3.5%-5% vacation rentals in hilton head advantage in seat-mile costs (cost per avai