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Bombardier CSeries Aircraft Family Aimed at Neglected Category, Company Says
A Bombardier feasibility study of a new narrow-body airline aircraft family may be presented to the company's board of directors early next year, with the first versions entering service by 2010.
If the $2 billion U.S. project is approved, the company could offer the airplanes (at 110 seats) to customers at this time next year. A stretch version with 135 seats would be certified later. The company is already talking to potential customers, but declined to name any. When the British press asked about easyJet and Ryanair, Gary Scott, president of Bombardier's commercial aircraft program, said he had not talked to them yet.
It is not that there aren't already aircraft being produced by the two giant airframe makers in this class, it's just that Bombardier believes aircraft still in production for this size class are inefficient derivatives. The just-named "CSeries" will be mostly a clean-sheet airplane family optimized for efficiency. But the stakes are huge, with market demand for this size category aircraft to be 5,800 airframes over the next 20 years.
"There is no in-production airplane today that is designed and optimized for this space," said Scott, a Boeing veteran who was general manager of the 737/757 program when the next-generation 737 was being worked up. "It [the 110- to 135-seat class] is an area that represents a big opportunity for us, and it is largely being ignored by the larger airplane manufacturers today. Now we are just going to move up to the next level," he said.
Bombardier aims to deliver a new aircraft with the best lifecycle cost in its class. The goal is to cut 15% from the cash operating cost of current production aircraft and 20% off the cost of out-of-production aircraft, according to Scott. A new engine, new materials, new aerodynamics and new systems will all play a role in delivering this improvement. About 10% of the aircraft structure would be made of composites, mostly carbon fiber material. Bombardier is talking to all of the engine manufacturers and expects to choose an engine by the end of the year. The aim is to certify an engine by 2008.
There will be a total of four aircraft in the new family, including a short- and long-range version with roughly 110 seats that will be developed and certified together in the first phase. Then the aircraft will be stretched to 135 seats, and both short- and long-range versions will be certified at the same time. The two short-haul aircraft (110 and 135 seats) with 1,800 nmi. range are designed to replace today's aging narrow bodies on the hub-and-spoke routes they serve now. The two longer-range versions (110 and 135 seats) will have 3,250 nmi. range for transcontinental trips in North America, satisfying the need for point-to-point operations on what the airlines call long, thin (as in lightly traveled) routes.
All four models of aircraft will use the same wing planform relying on the Bombardier's supercritical wing technology. The aircraft will feature a cockpit with side stick controllers, large displays (five were shown in the concept here) and fly-by-wire flight controls, according to John Holding, executive vp of integrated product definition and planning. The 110-seat will have an 123,000 lb. maximum takeoff gross weight, while the 135-seat will have an 151,000 lb. MTOW.
The aisle will be 23 in. wide and the distance between centers of seats will be 20 in. with double armrests, so there will be 3 in. of space between seats. Large bins will let passengers get luggage out of the way, while large windows and lighting will give the cabin an airy feeling. Seating will be five abreast with two and three seats separated by a single aisle.
Bombardier sees its regional jet customers aspiring to operate aircraft with more than 100 seats in the CSeries size, as well as mainline carriers seeking replacement aircraft for the DC-9, the classic 737s, the MD-80 family, Fokkers and BAE-146s. "There are 4,000 aircraft out there today supporting this market, all of which are out of production," Scott said.
"So the CSeries will be a competitive, continental connector. It will be customer-friendly and coast-to-coast. It is all of those neat C words that you think about," Scott said.
Holding said the engineering goal is to create an aircraft that will be as successful in this category in the new century as the DC-9 was in the previous one.
—David Hughes
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