Originally Posted by
DAWGS
From a well respected Captain on the Dalpa forum.
THE LEVERAGE EXPOSED
5. The 50 seat aircraft are coming up for mandatory engine maintenance/replacement costs very soon.
6. The costs to re-engine these 50 seat aircraft is between 2-2 1/2 BILLION dollars over the next 3 to 4 years. Unavoidable costs. (there are statements of 1billion on this web, those are wrong. The company has stated to me, through a person who knows, that the actual cost is 2-2 1/2 BILLION)
9. Canadair only has 11 76 seat aircraft to build and it closes down the line. There is a time crunch on Delta to get this deal done before that line is closed. This was a Canadair corporate decision.
12. AFTER re-engining the 50 seat aircraft, they still would operate at a revenue loss.
Heavy maintenance is the
only thing the company has stated. There aren't GTF engines to hang on these planes
yet. Bombardier has a backlog of CRJs including the 900/1000. They are selling
dual class 71 seat Q400s like flapjacks. No one has said which 76 seat plane we are getting (the 70's hold 65). The CRJ-900 and CRJ-1000 are assembled in Mirabel on the
same line. They have an order backlog of both types. The CSeries is due in 2013 with GTFs. Bombardier is expanding the Mirabel assembly line for the CSeries vs moving the CRJ out. Farnborough is next month. Is it cost neutral to buy 2.5 billion in new RJs instead of paying 2.5 billion for RJs you already have.