American and Canadian airport traffic statistics for 2013, Top 50

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by fusion2

You like your details

Well, as the well known saying goes, opinions are like a-holes, as everyone has one. I like to some facts with my opinion.

Originally Posted by fusion2

I still think its fair to consider the C Series and in particular the CS300 as the first 'real' code C clean sheet design in almost 3 decades.

I agree that Boeing and Airbus have abandoned the original concept of the 737 and A319 as a regional airframe in pursuit of a more general purpose aircraft.

I think the next evolution in airline corporations will be United only running international and hub to hub operations. They will negotiate a new contract with pilots so that the regional airlines flying under United Express logo will be able take care of servicing the smaller cities to the hub (which means jumping from 76 seat aircraft to 145 seat aircraft).

Originally Posted by fusion2

Republic is the only U.S Carrier who has bought in the C Series program so far with 40 orders.. There was a time of course where having strong support from the U.S was critical to any a/c development program - nowadays and into the future that support will be less important due to developing global economies.

But urban areas of 500K people with nearly empty airports are often only being served by flights to hubs. It would be nice if new airlines could take advantage of these airframes to run profitable point to point service.

[fusion2]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

I think the next evolution in airline corporations will be United only running international and hub to hub operations. They will negotiate a new contract with pilots so that the regional airlines flying under United Express logo will be able take care of servicing the smaller cities to the hub (which means jumping from 76 seat aircraft to 145 seat aircraft).
.

Yeah and the 145 seat segment fits perfectly into Bombardier's C series portfolio.. I think you'll find the same situation with other airlines globally. The C-Series may actually open up point to point service between markets much like the 787 is now doing albeit obviously on a smaller scale. The aircraft certainly has great operating characteristics in such markets in terms of economics, noise and short field performance.

[fusion2]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

Republic ordered those planes when they still controlled Frontier, he really has no need for them and no place to put them any more.

Type commonality is important; I would look more toward the E190 series continuing to get the bulk of the orders going forward as has been the case in the recent past.

Well he has a firm order for 40 aircraft and has stated less than 3 weeks ago he looks forward to taking delivery of them.. Who knows what RPA's business plans are when they start taking delivery of the CS 300 in 2017 (Perhaps Bedford knows something you don't about his own airline and its future).... As for the E190 that a/c right now anyway isn't really in competition with the CS 100 or CS 300 (both larger aircraft and particularly the CS 300) so I think Bombardier is going after Carriers who need to fulfill demand within the 112-160 seat segment. Embraer won't have a comparable aircraft to the C-Series technologically and size wise for another 5 years (at best and incorporating new technologies to make it competitive will probably mean even longer) at which time the C-Series will have a firmer footing in the segment they serve with a proven service record and a big head start in taking advantage of advanced technologies by its very design.

As for orders, when you look at the numbers so far the C-series it is doing well actually.. Since you mentioned the E-Jets here are some numbers for comparison...E-Jets Entered service in 2002 and have been in prod for 12 years now and have a not too shabby 1350 firm orders and 500 options - slightly over 1000 deliveries.. The C-Series isn't even in prod yet and has over 400 firm, option and commitment orders on the books so far from 23 (AUA looks to be very close to an order) different customers.. Its a big world out there and while existing customers of the E-Jets may indeed opt for the larger and more advanced 190 variant if they need it when it finally enters service due to fleet commonality, the aviation industry is growing so i'm pretty sure an aircraft with the technology, economics and operating characteristics of the C-Series will be able to attract new customers and build on existing one's....far too early to say a program with over 400 orders not even flying yet is a lame duck i'd say. Do you know the business plans for all 23 customers who have ordered the plane or future business plans of customers that most likely will be attracted to it that don't even operate E-Jets?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...CSeries_orders