First A220 order

It was just hours after Airbus officially renamed the CS300 to A220-300 when the first order under Airbus control came in yesterday. Jetblue ordered 60 A220-300 and took options for another 60 (per a MoU).
Also, Jetblue converted their order for A320neo to the larger A321neo, now having 85 A321neo on order but no A320neo anymore.
The 60 firm A220-300 will be delivered by H1 2025, the options would be delivered from 2025 onwards.
by that time the oldest A320ceo in Jetblue's fleet are 25 years old - time to say goodbye maybe? But then what? Jetblue could have ordered A320neo again, of course. But what if there would be a A220--500 (formerly known as CS500) by then? Maybe we have already seen a (tentative) launch order for the A220-500...

Embraer EJets G2 launch at Paris Air Show

Embraer will host a press conference regarding commercial aviation during the Paris Air Show next week on Monday (see the press release here). My strong guess is that this is where we will see the official launch of the EJet G2 Series.

And I guess Embraer will not only announce the official go-ahead but also will announce one or more first customers for the three-member strong family.

Technology Credibility

During the SWA web press conference about their B737MAX order, the CFM EVP Chaker Chahrour made an interesting statement. Leeham News and Comments has the quote here: "We believe we have much more credible technology than GTF."
Well, apart from that this might have been only some PR talking, I think we should shed some light on the credibility of the quote itself.

Is Delta Air Lines competitive with the B737-900ER?

Yesterday came the press release confirming Delta's order for 100 B737-900ER.

These will delivered between 2013 and 2018 and there is no mentioning of a possibility to switch to the reengined variant.
In the press release Delta stresses a fuel burn advantage of 15-20% against the B757, B767 and the A320. If fuel is responsible for about 40% of your cash operating costs, this is big and results in 6-8% lower COC's. But to be competitive, Delta has to look what the competitors will do, especially the low cost carriers, which have lower COC's to begin with.
Virgin America and jetblue have ordered the A320neo

CFM power

Scott Hamilton has a piece about how GE and CFM are able to win so many engine competitions and for that went deep into the Republic deal for 40 A319neo and 40 A320neo, to be equipped with the LEAP-1A.

After reading the story I went on and looked at a few public databases, where you can check out which airlines owns which aircraft, with which engines they are equipped and who is (eventually) the lessor of the aircraft.

I was interested in the airlines which already ordered the A320neo, but did not commit to an engine so far. Here are my findings and what they tell me:

1. GoAir: they have a firm order for 72 A320neo

Current fleet: 10 A320 powered by CFM56. They firmed up 10 options for the A320 (classic), no information which engine they choose for these, but I would guess CFM56.

GECAS leases 4 of these aircraft to GoAir.

So both CFM and GECAS have leverage for a deal to sell the LEAP-1A to GoAir. CFM could reduce spare parts pricing for the existing CFM56 and GECAS could lower lease rates.

Now GoAir is reportedly also interested in the CSeries and could announce a deal in July or August.

That gives P&W a leverage to struck a combined deal here, as the PW1524G is the sole engine for the CSeries.

Conclusion: Tie! Everything is possible!

2. Jetblue: Jetblue has a MoU for 40 A320neo

Current fleet: 118 A320 with V2500, 49 E190 with CF34-10E

GECAS leases 13 A320 as well as 35 E190 to Jetblue

At first glance, P&W should have better cards, if one just looks at the A320 engines, but GECAS tries to get a hold here with more leases.

MTU does the MRO for the engines on a power-by-the-hour basis, so they could be involved in a deal for placing the PW1133G on the A320neo's for Jetblue.

Conclusion: It's P&W's to loose - and that's the chance of CFM!

3. Avianca TACA: they have a MoU for 33 A320neo

Current fleet: 42 A320 powered by CFM (mostly Avianca), 30 A320 powered by V2500 (+20 on order)

GECAS leases 14 aircraft to Avianca TACA.

GE has a dedicated MRO shop for the CFM56-5 in Brasil.

Conclusion: CFM's to loose. They have clearly more to throw into that deal.

4. LAN/TAM: 20 firm oders (LAN) + MoU for 22 (TAM)

The airlines are in a merger process.

Current fleet: Large A320 family fleet, powered both by the V2500 and the CFM56 - LAN selected the CFM56 last year for a further 50 A320.

GECAS leases 23 aircraft, mostly to TAM.

MTU is providing MRO for the V2500 at TAM.

Conclusion: Close call! CFM and GECAS have slightly more leverage...

5. Garuda Indonesia/Citilink: MoU for 10 A320neo + 25 Options

Current fleet: 78 B737 (Classics and NG) with CFM56

GECAS leases 40 B737 to Garuda.

Conclusion: CFM can hardly loose this one!

6. Transasia: 6 A321neo on firm order

Current fleet: 2 A320 and 5 A321 powered by V2500, 7 ATR powered by PW127

Conclusion: P&W can hardly loose here!

And now look at some prospective customers:

1. Delta Air Lines

Current fleet:

• GE engines are on 105 aircraft
• CFM engines are on 209 aircraft
• GECAS leases14 aircraft to Delta
• PW engines are on 355 aircraft
• IAE engines are on 27 aircraft with 13 more to come (MD-90)

Most PW engines will go away with the replacement (the last DC-9's and the MD-80's), so the P&W leverage is not that big as it looks.

Conclusion: a deciding factor could be the engine commonality with a possible CSeries order!

2. American Airlines

Current fleet:

• GE engines are on 73 aircraft and will be on the 6 ordered B777-300ER
• CFM engines are on 154 aircraft and 54 more ordered B737-800
• GECAS leases 61 aircraft to AA
• PW engines are on the 229 MD-80's, which will then disappear

Conclusion: never heard so far that AA is interested in the CSeries, so this is CFM's to loose.

3. Air France/KLM

Current fleet:

• GE engines are on 146 aircraft
• CFM engine are on 210 aircraft
• GECAS leases just one aircraft to AF/KLM (is that right?)

Conclusion: hopeless for P&W, M. Sarkozy will never let AirFrance order an engine without french content if there is one available.