by ROSS MAROWITS, THE CANADIAN PRESS

With its focus no longer diverted by the aircraft formerly known as the C Series, Bombardier Inc. says it is working to improve the profitability of its regional jets and turboprops by boosting sales and cutting costs.

The Montreal-based transportation giant’s regional aircraft order backlog rose to 116 planes, enough for three years of production that sets it up for the potential to increase production rates. Its commercial aircraft segment won orders for a total of 16 Q400 aircraft and 35 CRJ Series equipped with its new cabin design.

“Adding a little bit of volume here also is very beneficial to those programs as you add units especially at the current rates — that does improve the cost structure,” chief financial officer John Di Bert said Thursday during a conference call about its second-quarter results.

“It’s about continuing to focus on adding volume, it’s about leaning out the cost structure and make sure we have very efficient programs, really focusing on that aftermarket and then we’ll take it from there,” said Di Bert.

Bombardier’s shares increased nearly five per cent at $4.99 in Thursday trading after the company posted strong results and signalled that its turnaround plan remains on track.

“Our solid performance positions us to achieve our free cash flow break even target for this year and more importantly to sustain cash generation well into the future,” Di Bert added.

Bombardier, which reports in U.S. dollars, said overall revenues increased three per cent to $4.26 billion in the second quarter.

Most of the improvement was due to an 11 per cent increase in revenue at Bombardier Transportation, which accounted for $2.26 billion of the total. Revenue fell at Bombardier’s commercial aircraft and business aircraft divisions.

The company achieved a second-quarter profit of $70 million as it posted a $232 million increase free cash flow, helped by $600 million net proceeds from the sale of Downsview airport in Toronto.

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Riga. The Latvian airline airBaltic received the tenth Airbus A220-300 aircraft, registered as YL-CSJ, in Riga on July 20. By the end of 2018, airBaltic plans to have a total of 14 A220-300 aircraft on its fleet.

Martin Gauss, CEO of airBaltic: “This is the first Airbus A220-300 aircraft we have received since Airbus officially overtook the program. We are proud of being the global launch operator of this aircraft type, and having such a strong partner like Airbus only benefits our airline.”

airBaltic has launched an improved cabin with new, comfortable seats on its latest two Airbus A220-300 aircraft. Passengers will benefit from such additional improvements as more legroom, new pockets behind the seats for magazines, hangers next to the seat for jackets. All airBaltic Airbus A220-300 aircraft will get the improved cabin.

“As initially planned, we are further improving our Airbus A220-300 fleet with several upgrades in the cabin design. We are delighted that our passengers appreciate the comfort that the Airbus A220-300 aircraft offers. By the end of 2018, we are planning to have a total of 14 Airbus A220-300 aircraft in our fleet therefore even more passengers will have the possibility to fly on the most modern aircraft,” adds Gauss.

On May 28, 2018, airBaltic announced a firm purchase agreement for the sale and purchase of 30 Airbus A220-300 aircraft with options for an additional 30 aircraft of the same type. The order complements the existing order of 20 A220-300 aircraft and forms the backbone of the new airBaltic’s business plan Destination 2025 that builds on the successful progress of the current airline’s business plan Horizon 2021, which has laid the groundwork for future expansion.

The Airbus A220-300 offers excellent flying experience with such benefits for passengers as wider seats, larger windows, more hand luggage space in the cabin, improved lavatories and more. New aircraft is also much quieter – with four times smaller noise footprint. Moreover, at the moment, it is the greenest commercial aircraft in the world, as it is the first aircraft to have a transparent declaration of the life-cycle environmental impact, helping to reduce CO2 and NOX emissions by 20% and 50% respectively.

By Sean Broderick, sean.broderick@aviationweek.com

JetBlue Airways, providing an early boost to the newly rebranded Airbus A220 line and delivering a notable blow to Embraer, has placed an order for 60 A220-300s—previously known as Bombardier CS300s—and earmarked them as E190 replacements. Delivers are planned to start in 2020.

The deal, the first announced under the new Airbus-Bombardier partnership that took over the CSeries, includes options for 60 more aircraft, which would begin arriving in 2025. JetBlue also has options to swap smaller A220-100s (previously CS100s) for the larger -300 models.

The Airbus A320-family operator also rearranged its orderbook for its larger narrowbodies, converting 25 A320neos to A321neos and modifying the delivery schedule. JetBlue plans to take 13 A321neos in 2019, followed by 15, 16, 15, 14, and 12 each year through 2024.

Taken together, the A220 order plus the swap of A320neos for larger A321neos means that JetBlue’s average aircraft capacity will grow in the coming years. While it has not specified a configuration for its A220-300s, they will have at least 20% more seats than the carrier’s 100-seat E190s.

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