There’s a “sweet spot” in the market for a new 110-seat airliner — that’s what Gary Scott’s potential customers are telling him. According to Scott, Bombardier president, new commercial aircraft program, this is precisely the need that the new CSeries airliner has been tailored to meet. “The airlines say there is a significant void between 130 and 95 seats, but they want a family of aircraft to maintain commonality so 110 seats gives you the ability to expand above and below [that capacity].”
The CSeries represents an investment of some US$2 billion for Bombardier and the first aircraft is due to enter service by 2010. The company still hopes to launch by third quarter 2005, but it will not commit to a more specific date. Negotiations with key suppliers such as Pratt & Whitney Canada and Rockwell Collins are ongoing.
Bombardier is proposing a four-aircraft family for the CSeries. The standard CSeries 110 will be a 110-seat twinjet with a 1,800-nmi range and a 120,600-lb MTOW. It will be partnered by the extended-range 110ER, with 3,000-nmi range and an MTOW of 133,200 lbs. Above the CSeries 110 sits the CSeries 130, a 130-seat aircraft again with two versions. The standard aircraft is a 1,800-nmi, 131,800-lb airliner, while the 130ER comes in at 146,000 lbs to deliver 3,000-nmi range.
Bombardier has worked hard to maintain commonality between all variants. All structures and systems are common across the family, except for the center fuselage extension, the wing box and the main landing gear — all elements affected by the fuselage stretch.
Bombardier says it aims to deliver a 15% reduction in total operating cost versus the typical 90- to 149-seat aircraft in North America in service today. Scott says this includes “the smaller aircraft” from Airbus and Boeing, the “larger ones” from Embraer, and also some out-of-production types. At the same time Scott points out that Bombardier is not trying to move into Airbus or Boeing territory, but aiming at what it sees as the unoccupied 110-seat point. —Robert Hewson
