No doubt Bombardier has had some serious issue lately that were largely due to the P&W engine blow up and the decision to fund the ill-fated Lear 85 program - too much on their plate at one time. However, it looks like they are more focused now. Plus, the Quebec government has injected some equity into the C-Series program - the last thing they need is thousands of lost aerospace jobs in Quebec.

As far as capital or purchase risk is concerned, if I were RA (don't you hate it when pilots think they are executives?), I would consider a mix of purchased and leased CS300 airframes and make it all contingent on more equity investment from the Quebec government to ensure a full ramp-up of production. Make any order CONTINGENT. That way Quebec gets assurances that a legacy carrier will order the airplane and preserve jobs as well. Again, the per-unit price better be dang low for Delta to consider it. Negotiations call for creativity on both sides. The Republic CS300 orders/options exist with nowhere to go - now you need to do something with them...

Also, remember that Bombardier already has the infrastructure to support these new airplanes through their current CRJ and Dash 8 service centers and service reps. The support infrastructure exists. No doubt I have seen some poor quality service in the past on the CRJ - it will need to get better.

Bottom line: the C-Series is a big leap in technology and performance. Unit price has got to be negotiated down to be attractive. Aircraft risk with the bigger CS300 should be lower if the CS100 introduction at SWISS in a month or two goes well considering the 95% commonality between the two airframes. The CEO of Bombardier is the former head of aircraft leasing at ILFC (giant aircraft lessor) - if anyone can do a creative deal it is that guy.

In the end, all of this speculation could be wasted talk. You never know... No doubt the C-Series would be nice to fly, but bean counters couldn't care less about that....