By Jamie Barrie I t was a short flight from Zurich to Paris but it meant everything to Bombardier. Swiss Global Airlines made the historic first commercial flight in the highly antici- pated C-series aircraft. “I am extremely proud that we are the first airline in the world to put this totally newly-devel- oped aircraft into service,” Swiss CCO, Markus Binkert said in a statement. “The Bombardier CS100 is a class act in every respect: comfort, economics and environmental credentials.” The flight was a complete success. The CS100 is the first of 30 planes ordered by the airline from Canadian manu- facturer Bombardier. They have split the purchase evenly between the CS100 and the larger CS300. The planes are considered to be state of the art while also offering sig- nificant fuel savings to customers. Swiss Global ordered their CS100 with 30 business class and 71 economy class seats. The new machines will help phase out the aging Avro RJ100 regional jets from the airlines inventory. For Bombardier this marked a crucial point in the devel- opment of the C-series. This new C-series aircraft is in a position to compete against the two of the best-selling airliners of all time, the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 plat- forms and with its capacity to transport between 100-150 passengers the C-series is the first serious contender for Airbus and Boeing in over 20 years. This market segment in the aircraft industry is destined to be very crowded in the future. Several manufacturers have made plans to introduce planes they hope will cut into the sales dominance of Airbus and Boeing. Bombar- dier is the first to step up.
Douglas MD-80/90. It was a case of buying the compe- tition when Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas for $13 billion. The emergence of Bombardier into this space will prove interesting. Despite their recent success the Quebec-based firm is not where it needs to be yet. They have more than 300 firm orders for their new plane. To put it in perspective, Airbus and Boeing both have 10-times that number of orders backlogged for their latest A320 and 737 models. What does Bombardier see as their strength? Well the industry loves their new aircraft. It is widely viewed as a game changer receiving critical acclaim for its fuel effi- ciency, range, and advanced technology. Airways senior business analyst Vinay Bhaskara stated “The CS300 kills the Boeing 737 Max 7 and the Airbus A319neo in terms of ability and efficiency.” The road ahead isn’t paved with gold for Bombardier. They have been tested by development issues and finan- cial setbacks as they build the new C-series program. The multibillion dollar budget for the C-series has put them in a financial crunch. Compounding that problem are sluggish sales to “A” list airline companies. Now that the CS100 has proven it is the real deal Bombar- dier has secured a major commitment from Air Canada and a multibillion dollar order from Delta. The support of these two major players should be sufficient to calm the fears of smaller companies who have been holding back because of Bombardier’s precarious financial condition. Bombardier has asked the Canadian government for bailout money but no commitment has been made so far. It is a widely held belief that there will be support for the manufacturer if it becomes crucial to their ability to stay afloat in a sea of debt.
The two segment giants have gone uncontested since the late 90’s and the disappearance of the McDonnell
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • AUGUST 2016
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