Bombardier Says Its CRJs Successful, Noting New Sales, Product
Milestones
"Obviously we'd like to have more operators for the 900,"
says Barry MacKinnon, vp marketing and airline analysis for regional
jets at Bombardier Aerospace.
But with 45 firm orders and 19 CRJ900s delivered (the 86- to 90-seat
jet entered service in April 2003), "it's not doing too badly,"
he says.
Down a notch, "We have a 66% share of firm orders" for
the 70- to 80-passenger market, MacKinnon claims and, with 11 carriers
flying the CRJ700, "the broadest operating base in that category
as well."
Bombardier claims a total of 222 firm orders for the CRJ700, with
142 aircraft delivered.
Since the start of 2003, Bombardier claims approximately 180 firm
orders for its three CRJ models. The tally includes 32 orders for
the 50-seat CRJ200 for Delta Connection, 10 CRJ200s and 32 CRJ700s
for Skywest (United Express) and 60 CRJ200s and 25 CRJ700s for US
Airways.
Also in hand is an MoU for as many as 45 CRJs for Air Canada, likely
to shake out, MacKinnon says, as 15 CRJ200s and up to 30 (two-class)
CRJ705s.
Bombardier late last year delivered the 1,000th of the CRJ line,
a 70-seat CRJ700, to Delta Connection "Only eight times since
the passenger jet age began in 1959 has an aircraft surpassed 1,000
deliveries," the company said.
"The CRJ now stands beside the Douglas DC-3 and the Boeing
707 as an airplane that revolutionized the way the world flies,"
said Bombardier Aerospace president and COO Pierre Beaudoin.
The first Bombardier CRJ100 was delivered to Lufthansa in 1992.
A CRJ700 is on display here.
—Rich Piellisch
Bombardier Touts 'turboProfits'
Bombardier is playing up the profitability of its Q400 turboprop,
dressing its demonstrator (which is here) in new livery replete
with the company's new "turboProfits" slogan.
"It is extremely profitable to operate," Barry
MacKinnon, vp marketing and airline analysis for regional
jets at Bombardier Aerospace, says of the 78-seat Q400. Costs,
he says, particularly on short runs, "can be 30% less
than a same size regional jet."
Assuming a U.S. flight of 200 nmi, not likely to warrant
a 737-size craft for most routes, Bombardier claims a Q400
seat-mile cost of just 11.6 cents. That compares quite favorably
with 12.9 cents per seat-mile for a 737-700NG operated by
a carrier like Southwest, MacKinnon says, and extremely favorably
with a legacy 737 at 18 cents or Bombardier's own CRJ200 at
17.6 cents per seat-mile.
Assuming a fare of just $55 for such a trip, MacKinnon told
Show News, a carrier with a Q400 fleet can expect a 26% profit
margin.
Bombardier claimed a total of 108 firm orders for the Q400
at the end of April, and said 81 had been delivered.
The company reported a firm order for four Q400s with one
option by Japan Air Commuter at the end of June.
Heavy Maintenance Heads
West
Bombardier CRJ regional jet and Q-Series turboprop operators
now have a heavy maintenance base in the western U.S., as
the Bombardier Regional Aircraft Services facility in Tucson,
Arizona officially opened on March 30—"with,"
the company notes, "a Mesa Air Group CRJ900 already inside."
The 131,000-square-foot building at the Tucson International
Airport can handle up to 10 regional aircraft at a time. It
offers heavy maintenance and modifications, structural repairs,
component repair and overhaul, fabrication, welding, non-destructive
testing and avionics and machine shops.
