I don't believe delta got into this c series order without a behind the scenes agreement that bbd will build the c series500 eventually

I hope we also secured a behind the scenes agreement that they'll stay in business, keep making them and we don't get anchored with the next (Pamela Martha) Fokker orphan jet.

Oh and also that they work when we get them, which is no given for new(ish) planes.

Swiss Air is working out the "glitches" as we speak.

Yeah them operating them now should at least take some of the sting out of it. However I'm sure when we press them into service we'll put substantially more pressure on them than a leisurely micro-operator like Swiss. Our M.O. is to throw everything to the winds of marketing and send every plane hopscotching all over the hemisphere with zero regard towards dispatch reliability or crewing concerns with planned plane changes every leg, then if that doesn't work we scramble to reverse engineer the 99.99999% reliability factor we originally assumed it would deliver, regardless of the realism of doing so.

I really hope we keep something like that on a VERY short leash for a while. Even a couple percent differential in dispatch reliability makes a massive difference in operational integrity in any operating environment other than low utilization/high spare hub and spoke only deployments. Yet if marketing has much of a say, and history suggests it will be, by far, the dominant decision maker, we could be in for a rough break in period.

We kept both the 717 and 321 close to home and on the same routes to work out the kinks when they first arrived. I expect the same with the C series debut.

Bombardier is no freshman to aircraft design and manufacturing. I'm sure there will be the usual teething issues with the airframe, but overall I expect it to be robust. The engines are what concerns me. They are advanced and remarkable for sure, but without a proven record, it is very worrisome. The L1011 program died because RR couldn't get the engines worked out in time. If one of these motors blows up, the whole fleet could be grounded, and orders could be cancelled. ANA has a whole bunch of 787 gliders parked around Japan while their engines are being replaced. This new engine will be the highest bypass turbofan in the world. High altitude engine icing is already a problem with high bypass engines. How well will this one deal with that issue in the real world? I'm glad its another year until these are on the property.

Anyone interested in seeing a CS300 in action with airBaltic should watch this short but great video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x9BeKiVW1Sk

The flight deck and cabin are outstanding - better than any other narrowbody out there. On top of that, consider that it can fly 3,300 miles at 25% improved efficiency vs a 737-700 or A319. The flight deck uses the same ProLine Fusion system as the latest top-of-the-line Global Express (Global 6000) with the addition of side sticks. Seating is a comfortable 2X3 like the MD88 but the overhead bins are huge and the windows significant lighting. Passengers should love it.

Again, I believe, after initial and inevitable kinks are worked out, the C-Series will be the SHIZNIT fleet at Delta... Check out the video!

I think it is the first 35 are 100's, then either/or...

I agree that its a very nice paper airplane. When we made the order, they were still largely unproven. Its not just that its a new plane, but the biggest and most ambitious thing to come out of an entire country. I really doubt Swiss or Baltic run theirs as hard and as thin as we will. The nice bins and roomy middle seats and sidesticks won't matter if dispatch reliability in a pressed environment deployed by overly optimistic marketing sinks to the mid 90's for a while, which it easily might.

I'm sure it will eventually work (if not right away hopefully) and even assuming it will be built well enough to stand the test of high cycles over the years and decades but thats far from a given. The biggest concern could be the double edged sword of how we came to get them so cheaply. Because no one else wanted them. The parent company needed this deal, and so they made it. Great, savvy on our part, right? Maybe. Hope so. But if we end up with dozens (or hundreds?) of these things as future Fokker orphans, paper fuel savings and meaningless niceties like bins and wider seats suddenly won't matter.

Bottom line is we took a huge gamble on these. Hopefully it pays off.

While we're on the subject...does anyone one know where the CS100/300's will be based? I thought I heard west coast but can't find that fleet newsletter anywhere.