Canada’s aviation giant Bombardier was expected to unveil its CSeries, a fuel-sipping “greener” rival to smaller aircraft made by industry leaders Airbus and Boeing, yesterday in Britain, local media said on Saturday.
Bombardier, a leading manufacturer in railway equipment and the third largest global builder of airplanes, is looking to deliver a model that consumes 20 percent less fuel, thanks to a new motor style and lighter composite materials, Canada’s La Presse reported.
The CSeries twin-engine aircraft seats 110 to 130 people, and would compete with Airbus’ A319 (125 seats) and Boeing’s B737-600 and 700 (110 to 130 seats).
“The Farnborough [Britain] air show officially does not open until Monday [today] but Bombardier is in the habit of making its big announcements on the eve of a show opening,” the Montreal paper’s aeronautics expert wrote.
OFF THE BACK BURNER
The company put the CSeries project on hold in May 2006, after it had been in the works for a decade, but relaunched the process last year once it appeared that rising fuel costs would ignite demand for a more fuel-efficient aircraft.
Jacques Kavafian, an analyst at Research Capital, wrote this week that “identified potential customers now include China Southern, Shanghai Airlines, Lufthansa, ILFC, and Qatar Airways.”
China Southern and Shanghai Airlines could be the main clients for the test phase of the aircraft, and have already ordered around 100 CSeries aircraft, which are available beginning in 2013.
“Interest [in the Cseries] is indeed out there,” Bombardier spokesman March Duchesne said, without providing any confirmation of the release plans.
BIG AND SMALL
Bombardier projects that after the initial production run of 100 to 150 planes, as many as 6,300 could be manufactured in the coming 20 years.
The CSeries “will be the biggest among the regional carriers or the smallest among the big airlines,” said Isabelle Dostaler, an aeronautics industry expert at Concordia University.
“That’s what worried some, ‘Why awaken the sleeping giants?’ But at the same time, Boeing and Airbus are busy with other things at the moment with their new projects. That’s the thinking,” she said.
Bombardier is later on the scene than its Brazilian rival, Embraer, which launched a 108 to 118 seat plane in 2004 as part of its E170/190 line.
The market is ruled by Europe’s Airbus and the US’ Boeing, but their A319 and B737-600 and 700 are considered aging models.
Bombardier says it will require US$2.5 billion in initial investment funds, and hopes to share the bill with the British, Canadian and Quebec governments as well as with front-end suppliers.
Potential manufacturing sites include the US state of Missouri and Mirabel, on the outskirts of Montreal.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
RSS