Odds and Ends: CS300 first flight delayed; PW GTF; Boeing enters MidEast fray

Baby, it’s cold out there! Bombardier delayed the first flight of its CSeries due to the cold. Click on image to enlarge. Source: Sylvain Faust.

CS300 first flight delayed: When Bombardier says it’s too cold for the CS300 first flight, you know it’s cold up in Montreal. It’s -21C at Mirabel (-6F) and partly cloudy, but that was too cold for the guests, according to our man on the scene, Sylvain Faust. Canadians know how to dress for this cold but visitors don’t. A rescheduled time hasn’t been definitively announced.

Bombardier doesn’t have an open-faced tent and outdoor heaters set up, according to Faust.

PW GTF: Flight Global has a report about Pratt & Whitney’s “new aggressiveness” in competing with CFM International in the battle of the Pure Power Geared Turbo Fan vs the LEAP-1A. These engines power the Airbus A320neo family.

Boeing enters MidEast fray: American, Delta and United airlines want Open Skies revisited in order to curb competition by the Big Three Middle Eastern carriers. Boeing, FedEx and JetBlue, have entered the fray, opposing any such action. Here is the story.

5 Comments on “Odds and Ends: CS300 first flight delayed; PW GTF; Boeing enters MidEast fray

  1. We don’t exactly know yet where the 757R problematique is going to take us, there still is an interesting “outsider” strategy in the running, still open for all we know (until the grey hats in Chicago have reached their decision ?) : 757 re-engining (MAX) retrofit useful life extensions.

    The high wing of the 757 with its good ground clearance for the powerplants offer full liberty for the selected retrofit engine solution to optimise by-pass ratio and fan diameter. If three major 757 operators go together to push Boeing into the retrofit avenue, picking up the bill for the study work (a very convincing argument !) and talk as a GROUP to P&W or CFMI to in common push the favored engine OEM into making the right engine (40+ klbf ?), then that engine maker would land a group engine order for 800+ 757 times 2 = 1,600+ engines on top of current sales for MAX vs NEO … Palatable business opportunity for PurePower vs Leap-X !? But ONLY ONE OEM will take the whole retrofit job, there is not room for two !

    Enough to immediately take up the enviable position as undisputed market leaders ! With a downside : if the A322 is launched by Airbus, the same engine will fit nicely !

  2. AIRwise: “Delta, United and American have asked the White House to look into the financial statements of competitors from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which they accuse of receiving more than USD$40 billion in government subsidies since 2004.”

    This is reminiscent of the then 75 year old Boeing which raised hell over government subsidies at Airbus when it had itself milked every level of government. Delta, United and American are legacy airlines that were heavily subsidized by the US government when they started. The Middle-East airlines are in the same position today as these US airlines were 75 years years ago. The same problem exists with fast developing nations who are polluting today no less and no more than US companies were 75 years ago. Do as I say, not as I do. That is the law you can impose on others when you are 75 years ahead of everybody else.

  3. And if the PW core is more robust, does that make it possible for a 757NEO?

    I don’t think for a minute Boeing wants to resurrect it, no enough flexibility for the future.

    Or maybe more accurately, Boeing would love to do it on the low ball part, but if not long term viable then clean sheet. and that seems to work in with the dual design approach per the 767/757 though in this case the 737/757RS

  4. That the CS300 first flight would have to be postponed because Bombardier does not have adequate temporary installations to accommodate its guests is astonishing. But it can be easily explained: Bombardier Aerospace has been dismantled last summer and a consequence of that reorganization was the departure of key people like Hélène Gagnon and Marc Duchesne who were pillars of Public Relations at Bombardier. I am sure that if they were still around they would have planned proper accommodations for this event. And to add to the general confusion a new CEO has just been appointed only a few days ago. I hope the new captain will be able to stabilize the ship before it sinks. 😉

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