(Reuters) – Canadian planemaker Bombardier Inc BBDb.TO said it received a firm order from China Express Airlines for 10 CRJ900 jets for about $462.6 million based on the list price of the aircraft.
China Express, a private regional airline based in Guizhou province, has ordered 38 of these aircraft of which 20 have been delivered to date, Bombardier said.
Up to Wednesday’s close shares of the company, which competes with Embraer SA EMBR3.SA, had fallen nearly 69 percent this year on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Reuters
Bombardier and jetBlue in talks over CSeries
Bombardier Inc., struggling to find established airlines as buyers for its new CSeries airliner, is in talks about a possible order with JetBlue Airways Corp., two people familiar with the matter said.
The discussions are continuing, and no decision has been reached, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. They gave no details on the size of any potential sale to JetBlue, whose fleet now consists of Airbus Group SE and Embraer SA aircraft.
Signing up JetBlue would let Bombardier make good on a pledge to add well-known carriers to a roster of CSeries buyers now dominated by lessors and small airlines. The only North American airline with a firm order is Republic Airways Holdings Inc., which said last year there was “no place” in its business model for the CSeries.
The CSeries is Bombardier’s biggest-ever jet, a step up in size from the company’s signature regional models. Now running more than two years late, the aircraft hasn’t won a firm sale since September 2014 and has drained cash as development costs ballooned $2 billion to $5.4 billion.
“We do not have any comment specific to Bombardier’s CSeries, but it is routine for us to meet with aircraft manufacturers,” said Doug McGraw, a spokesman for New York-based JetBlue.
Air Canada
Bombardier is also in talks with Air Canada regarding the CSeries, said one of the people familiar with the company’s plans. A CSeries test aircraft was recently on display at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport, Air Canada’s main international hub. Air Canada decided in 2014 to keep some of its Embraer planes after considering the CSeries as an alternative.
Isabelle Arthur, an Air Canada spokeswoman, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. Isabelle Gauthier, a spokeswoman for Montreal-based Bombardier, declined to discuss talks with potential customers.
JetBlue operates 60 Embraer E190s with 100 all-coach seats and has about 150 larger, single-aisle Airbus planes, most of them the top-selling A320 model. In 2013, the airline pushed back an order for 24 additional Embraers to as late as 2022 amid a focus on larger, more fuel-efficient planes.
While JetBlue has expressed openness to the idea of moving just to Airbus planes from the A320 family, it also has said the smaller E190 is best suited for short-haul, high-frequency routes it flies out of Boston.
The Bombardier jets also could serve that role, but it’s unclear whether JetBlue would want to work through any early issues with the planes after being the initial airline to fly the E190 a decade ago, said Robert Mann, an aviation consultant based in Port Washington, New York.
“With the CSeries you potentially benefit from some very attractive new technology and economics,” Mann said. “But you also absorb the slings and arrows of being one of the first big operators. You work out all the kinks.”
Bloomberg Business
United Airline to order new 100 seater?
United Airlines plans to order a fleet of 100-seat jetliners from either Bombardier Inc. or Embraer SA if it can agree on terms for a two-year contract extension with pilots in expedited bargaining.
Reaching a deal would assure labour peace with a crucial union for new Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz and bring back some flying now done by regional partners with cramped, less- efficient 50-seat planes. For Bombardier or Embraer, a sale to United would be a significant victory as they try to place their biggest narrow-body models at the largest U.S. carriers.
“This time of senior leadership change is a unique opportunity for us,” United Senior Vice President Douglas McKeen wrote in an Oct. 2 letter to union chief Jay Heppner, in a reference to Munoz’s hiring last month after the ouster of predecessor Jeff Smisek. McKeen proposed capping the talks at 45 days.
An airline spokeswoman, Megan McCarthy, confirmed the overture but declined to discuss the possible negotiating terms at the unit of United Continental Holdings Inc. Dave Kelly, a spokesman for United’s chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, said: “We cannot discuss offers or proposals.”
United, buoyed by an upbeat investor update on third- quarter profit, rose 7.1 per cent to US$55.97 at 10:26 a.m. in New York. Bombardier shares rose about 5 per cent to $1.64 at mid-day on Friday. American depositary receipts for Brazil’s Embraer also advanced.
Buying new 100-seat planes for mainline flying would be a lure for pilots, because it would generate jobs and appeal to their interest in cutting-edge aircraft — an affinity jokingly referred to in the industry as “shiny jet syndrome.”
Financial Post