Flight International - August 18, 2015

THIS WEEK

flightglobal.com 18-31 August 2015 | Flight International | 11

‘Budget realities’

could see US Navy

slow F-35 purchase

THIS WEEK P 12

O

ne of the three leasing
customers for Bombardier’s
developmental CSeries family
has called on the manufacturer to
up its sales efforts in order to fill
out the medium-term backlog for
the twinjets.
Mike Platt – chief executive of
Lease Corp International (LCI),
which holds commitments for
17 CS300s and three of the
smaller CS100 – says that al-
though he is pleased with the
progress Bombardier is making,
the company “needs to start
turning that interest into orders
from market-leading airlines”.
At 30 June, Bombardier had
secured a total of 243 orders for
the new jets – 53 CS100s and
190 CS300s – or around two to
three years of production, de-
pending on how sharply rates
are ramped up.
However, Platt says that total
is “not enough”, adding that the
Canadian airframer needs to
bring in “two marquee custom-
ers that will each take in excess
of 25 aircraft”. At the moment,
however, the leasing market has
placed more than one-third of or-
ders for the new jets, and two of
the three largest commitments for
CSeries aircraft have been placed

by lessors – with Macquarie

AirFinance planning to take 40

CS300s and Ilyushin Finance 32

of the same variant.

Platt stresses that the sales ef-

fort is being hampered by the

continued availability of so many

medium-term delivery slots.

“Right now, you can get posi-

tions, and if you know that,

there’s no urgency. Bombardier

needs to create some urgency.”

He remains positive on the

twinjets’ performance and the

strength of Bombardier’s new

management team, including

president Fred Cromer and chief

salesman Colin Bole, who both

have strong backgrounds in the

leasing industry.

However, he says that ulti-

mately LCI could abandon its

order – despite some pre-delivery

payments having already been

made – if more CSeries custom-

ers do not emerge.

“We don’t want to walk away,

we want to take these aircraft and

put [our] money to use, but at the

same time will we buy aircraft if

there’s no place to put them? I’ll

let you answer that,” says Platt.

Bombardier has not secured a

firm CSeries order since Septem-

ber last year. ■

Pratt & Whitney is rolling out the

PW1525G – a new, higher-thrust

version of its PW1500G engine – for

the Bombardier CSeries family in the

next two to three months, the fourth

powerplant option for the CS

and the third for the CS300.

P&W is developing the new vari-

ant of the engine to offer up to 5%

higher thrust when the aircraft is

moving faster than Mach 0.1 and at

the maximum continuous thrust rat-

ing in flight. In static conditions the

PW1525G will generate the same

thrust as the PW1524G, which is

rated to deliver up to 23,300lb

(103kN), and requires no hardware

modifications within the engine.

Bombardier says changes have

been enabled by “a certain amount

of design margin” discovered in the

powerplant, although it points out

that running the engine at the higher

thrust level will expose the compo-

nents to hotter temperatures, in-

creasing maintenance costs.

A software update for the

PW1500G engine fleet is scheduled

for release in September or October

to enable the higher-thrust capability

of the PW1525G. The PW1525G will

allow a CSeries operator to carry a

heavier load of passengers and car-

go, or provide more range, or some

combination of the two.

Two months ago Bombardier an-

nounced a 5% increase in the maxi-

mum range for the CS100 and

CS300, up to 3,100nm (5,740km)

and 3,300nm respectively. ■

A

new strategy document by the
US Air Combat Command
points to the development of a fu-
ture close-air-support (CAS) plat-
form even as the service pushes to
retire the long-serving Fairchild
Republic A-10 from the role.
Although the document says
current priorties are to modernise
legacy fighters and bombers to
cope with highly-contested air-
space while working toward re-
placements – chiefly the Lock-
heed Martin F-35 and long-range
strike bomber programmes – it
says there is still a requirement to
provide support to ground forces.

PROGRAMME DOMINIC PERRY LONDON

CSeries sales lag behind LCI’s target

Leasing customer for Bombardier’s developmental twinjet points to continued availability of medium-term delivery slots

PROPULSION STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

PW1525G gives more thrust to family

USAF report says Warthog will require replacement

STRATEGY JAMES DREW WASHINGTON DC

Lease Corp holds commitments to 17 CS300s and three CS100s

“We must continue to develop

a balanced close air support capa-

bility across all platforms, ex-

plore opportunities for a future

CAS platform, and... ensure we

maintain a CAS culture through-

out the combat air force,” it says.

The push for a new CAS air-

craft is a further indication that

senior air force leaders are active-

ly pursuing an A-10 replacement

• dubbed A-X – while they are
  seeking permission from Con-
  gress to mothball the in-service
  fleet. The USAF intends to re-
  place the legacy type with the
  Lockheed Martin F-35A, which
  has basic air support capabilities.
  Air Combat Command chief
  Gen Herbert Carlisle, who ap-
  proved the strategic plan, said in
  March that the air force is explor-
  ing what will follow the A-10,
  potentially as a more affordable
  complement to the F-35, noting:
  “We’re thinking about what an
  A-X would look like.” ■

Bombardier

US Air Force

The A-10’s retirement will leave a close air support capability gap