Farnborough Odds and Ends: Cathay and A350; AirAsia and CSeries??; BBD on CSeries timeline; Boeing’s Conner

Some more stories out of Farnborough, the day before the show officially starts:

Reuters has two stories, one we’ve been tracking for some time (Cathay) and one that is totally new (and totally surprising) (AirAsia).

Cathay could end A350-1000 drought.

AirAsia looks at 160 seat version of CS300. We knew BBD has a 160-seat version, high density. We hadn’t heard of AirAsia’s interest. Predictably, Airbus’ John Leahy dismissed the idea. If he tried to kill the CSeries before, this will really get his dander up. AirAsia is one of his largest customers. Maybe we can see a dance-off between Leahy and Bombardier’s chief executive Pierre Beaudoin.

Bombardier Talks About CSeries Timeline. Videocast over at AirInsight.

Bombardier lands new CSeries customer. Add moreCS100s, CS300s to the mix.

Boeing’s Ray Conner, new CEO of Commercial Airplanes, speaks with The Seattle Times.

Boeing, US plot export strategy for KC-46A.

11 Comments on “Farnborough Odds and Ends: Cathay and A350; AirAsia and CSeries??; BBD on CSeries timeline; Boeing’s Conner

  1. Well, the overseas potential sales of the KC-46A is interesting. India would be the first potential buyer since they have not selected their new tanker yet. Israel would also be a potential buyer, with offset production done at IAI. Other potential sales could go to current KC-135R operators like Turkey and Singapore.

    About Cathay and the potential A-3510 buy or switch in orders from the A-359. They do have a few routes they fly with the non-ER B-772, that they could use it on, but other than that I just don’t see any possibilities for the A-3510. Everyone is more interested in when, and if Cathay will place their VLA order….for the B-747-8I or A-380-800.

    Looks like AirAsia has pulled a fast one on ‘ol John Leahy if they go ahead with a high density CS-300 instead of more A-320s, or NEOs.

    With this new UFO for 5 CS-100s and 10 CS-300s, and coupled with a potential AirAsia order for 160 seat CS-300s it looks like BBD’s sales drought for the C-Series may be finally coming to an end.

    • There has never been a sales drought for the CSeries really. Compared to the E-Jet for example, Embraer had only 112 firm orders, and very few customers, at the time the aircraft made its first flight.

      By comparison Bombardier is still six months away from first flight and already has 138 firm orders with 12 customers. If you take into consideration the 139 orders that have not been confirmed yet this brings the total to 277.

      Since we can expect BBD to get a few more orders before the first flight, it means they might have well over 300 sales before the end of the year, with possibly between 150 and 200 firm orders. But we cannot compare the sales figure for the CSeries with those for the neo or MAX. I think the E-Jet is a more appropriate benchmark.

      If we look at the success of the E-Jet today it bods well for the CSeries. Embraer entered the segment with a more modern and more spacious aircraft which put them in a position to pass BBD quickly. We can now expect a similar scenario for the CSeries.

      It’s only when BBD will have developed larger variants like the widely expected CS500 that we will be able to start comparing the CSeries sales figures with those of Boeing and Airbus.

  2. Great news! A350-1000 will make an excellent B-773er replacement for CX too.

  3. kctb: “They do have a few routes they fly with the non-ER B-772, that they could use it on, but other than that I just don’t see any possibilities for the A-3510”

    ?! Amazing. Maybe broaden your sources. A 350-1000 will fly further then the 773ER, using 15-20% less. Boeing is scrambling to rewing/engine/stretch the 777s because of it.

    I think it won’t be a perfect 777-300ER replacement because it is smaller. However it seems a good 777-200ER, A340-300 replacement, adding 15-20% growth and CASM reduction for the next decade on flights to/from Asia. 280-320 seats in 3-4 class configurations. Prospects: BA, AA, UA, DL, LH, AF/KLM, SQ. Direct competitor would be 777-8i, if it is launched.

    http://www.airbus.com/fileadmin/media_gallery/photogallery/big/800x600_1216159200_A350-1000_ASIANA_AIRLINES.jpg

      • Scott posted a Boeing diagram a few days ago showing how Boeing sees the 787, A350 and 777 stack up. Even Boeing see the A350-1000 left (i.e. in more efficient territory) of the 777-300ER.
        It’s certainly a factor in their studies of a 777X.
        So the -1000 certainly isn’t a complete dog even by Boeing’s own assessment (never mind the PR) – its order drought might have more to do with no slots being available for it for about 6 to 7 years. Funnily enough, the 787 also hit a relative wall in terms of net new orders when its backlog moved the earliest available slots west of 7 years in the future.

    • I think Airbus should really start to worry. If Bombardier decides to finally get into the game on pricing, Airbus is going to really get hurt. So far all of the CSeries “victories” have been with Airbus’ customers. Of course, that is why Leahy was so keen to launch the NEO.

      • Howard :
        I think Airbus should really start to worry. If Bombardier decides to finally get into the game on pricing, Airbus is going to really get hurt. So far all of the CSeries “victories” have been with Airbus’ customers. Of course, that is why Leahy was so keen to launch the NEO.

        First of all: A factual correction.
        CSeries customers Braathens/Malmö Aviation, Korean Air, and PrivatAir operate 737, not A32S.

        I’m all for the CSeries, and I do believe that the CS300 is a very good alternative to the A319neo (depending on the individual customer’s fleet and route structure). But with two of the CSeries customers also having placed neo orders (LH and Republic), a backlog of over 1400 total neo orders, and the CSeries not directly competing with the A320 and A321, I do think that your statements “Airbus should really start to worry” and “Airbus is going to really get hurt” are exaggerating the actual situation just a tad bit.

      • Sorry – correction to my previous post: PrivatAir of course operates both A32S and 737.

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