Jun 24 2014
On June 24, 2014, Aurigny Airlines took delivery of the airline’s first Embraer 195.
The airline ordered the aircraft when Flybe announced it would pull out of the Gatwick-Guernsey route last year. The new aircraft will be operating four round trips daily on the route.
May 30 2014
On May 29th, 2014, according to a press release by Bombardier, CSeries prototype FTV-1 suffered an “engine-related” incident. This event did not occur in flight, and was reported to have occurred when FTV-1 was undergoing ground maintenance testing.
The extent to the damage to FTV-1 was not released, nor was the specific incident itself revealed in Bombardier’s terse announcement. Further information is expected to be released in the future. Pratt and Whitney, the CSeries engine manufacturer, is involved in the investigation of the incident.
May 15 2014
On May 15th, 2014, Air Canada announced in a statement that the airline would not replace 25 Embraer aircraft with CSeries aircraft from Bombardier.
The airlines’ statement said, in part: “After careful consideration, Air Canada has decided to continue to operate the (Embraer) aircraft given their young age … and to avoid additional capital expenditures and debt.”
While this is a setback to the CSeries program, the Embraer aircraft will need to be replaced at some point and Bombardier would likely make an attempt to provide an option to Air Canada in that case.
In April 2014, Air Canada finalized a deal to sell a portion of the airline’s Embraer 190 planes to Boeing as part of an order for 61 Boeing 737 Max aircraft.
May 03 2014
A new startup airline called Odyssey Airlines plans to start service with 10 40-seat Bombardier CSeries aircraft to fly nonstop from London City Airport to New York initially in 2016.
The airline originally placed the firm order for these ten aircraft on June 24, 2011 as an unannounced customer before being revealed by Bombardier on June 17, 2013. Currently, the airline is seeking funding through crowd-sourcing with a goal of raising one million pounds for an investment in the airline. However, this is a first step in such funding with a overall goal of five million pounds.
The airline has raised roughly five million pounds from investors and peer-to-peer lending. But the airline needs to raise more than sixty million pounds, mostly through institutional investors, to actually launch the airline.
While the CSeries orders are listed as being firm, until and unless further funding for this airline appears, these orders are tentative.