Sep 26 2014

Macquarie AirFinance signs purchase agreement for 50 CSeries

Bombardier_logoOn September 26, 2014, Bombardier announced that Macquarie AirFinance signed a firm purchase agreement for 40 CS300 aircraft and has taken options on an additional 10 aircraft. Macquarie AirFinance currently owns or manages 136 jet aircraft leased to 73 operators in 43 countries across six continents and will lease the CS300 aircraft onwards. Delivery of the aircraft will be on a phased basis from 2017 to 2019.

Including Macquarie’s order, Bombardier has booked orders and commitments for 563 CSeries aircraft, which include firm orders for 243 CSeries airliners.

 

Sep 17 2014

Republic Airways removing Q400s from fleet

Republic Airways LogoOn September 17, 2014 Republic Airways announced a fleet restructuring that will result in the removal of the Q400 from the airline’s fleet. The decision was announced in conjunction with an order for an additional 50 Embraer 175s to be added to the airline’s fleet.

The airline intends to sub-lease 24 Q400s to Flybe and the remaining aircraft will be either sold, leased or returned to the lessor. Some of the Q400s were previously operated by Pinnacle airlines and were transferred to Republic in 2012 when an agreement was reached with United Airlines to operate the aircraft.

Embraer 175s in this new order will begin deliveries in July 2015. The aircraft will be operated by Republic’s Shuttle America subsidiary for United Airlines under United Express colours.

In January 2013 Republic placed an order for 47 Embraer 175s of which 34 have been delivered. Republic has 32 additional options of the type in addition to this new order.

Aug 29 2014

CSeries flight testing to resume next month

CSeries FTV-1 Outside Hanger

Bombardier appears set to resume flight testing for the CSeries in early September after months of delays.

The flight test program came to a halt in late May after the program suffered an engine incident on FTV-1. The program has not operated any flight tests since that date. Delays in the arrival of new engines from Pratt & Whitney caused the flight test stoppage, but engines have been arriving over the past few weeks.

All four test aircraft are in the process of having the new engines installed and ground tested before the first flight can be operated. The delay has put into some doubt whether Bombardier can meet the program’s entry-into-service date.

Bombardier has indicated that  it still expects the smaller version of the CSeries to enter into service by the second half of 2015, but further delays could push the date into 2016.

Aug 28 2014

Embraer and Mitsubishi split order with JAL

JAL LogoOn August 28, 2014, it was announced that Embraer and Mitsubishi split an order for aircraft from Japan Airlines.

Embraer received an order for 15 E-Jets and Mitsubishi received an order for 32 MRJs.

The first deliveries of Embraer 170 and Embraer 190 aircraft are expected in 2015 and Japan Airlines has an option for a further12 aircraft. The 15 aircraft firm order will double the number of Embraer planes in JAL’s fleet.

The agreement with Mitsubishi Aircraft is the third this year for the MRJ. Mitsubishi expects to deliver the first MRJ in 2017. The Japan Airlines order brings Mitsubishi Aircraft’s total order book for the MRJ to 400.