Is the CS100 Perfect For British Airways?

Real World Aviation
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Excuse the DJs Aviation Title :P

Introduction

The CS100 is made by Bombardier in their Mirabel, Quebec plant. The aircraft’s range came out much better than Bombardier expected. Using the same engines as the CS300 the aircraft also has unrivaled short field performance, it can also follow a steep glide-slope. This allowed the aircraft to get certification for EGLC for Swiss to fly their CS100 into City from Geneva and Zürich.

But this isn’t about Swiss.

British Airways’ Cityflier subsidiary currently operates fifteen Embraer ERJ-190s with one still on order, almost all of these aircraft are based out of London City airport. They also have six ERJ-170s. The average fleet age between these two aircraft types is 7.8 years. These aircraft are also flown like workhorses by the airline.

With C-Series production expected to ramp up over the coming years, the current orders would dry up around 2022. This would place these ERJs with an average age of twelve years and thousands of flight hours. The lone Airbus A318 in the mainline fleet would be having it’s 13th birthday around then too.

Is It Perfect For British Airways?

Air travel is always growing as a method of transportation. The CS100 is bigger than the Embraer yet still offers superior efficiency. The larger size would be able to cope with the increasing demand of future air travel but the efficiency would allow British Airways to save costs.

British Airways could replace the A318 with it. British Airways flies the A318, in a 32 seat all-business configuration, as Speedbird 1 from EGLC-KJFK via Shannon Ireland, and Speedbird 2 from KJFK-EGLC. Bombardier also published the CS100’s range as 3100 Nautical Miles. This would put John F. Kennedy, New York in range of London City.

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This range is also in a two class configuration. In a reduced seating - like what the Airbus A318 is configured with - the CS100 would easily be able to handle the flight. It wouldn’t have to stop in Shannon on the way there like the A318 currently does either. With better efficiency than the A318, and could seat 40 business class seats instead of the 32 the A318 is configured with. The only thing missing would be the required ETOPS-180 rating, which the CS100 doesn’t have.

Getting that ETOPS-180 rating would be something Bombardier would have to do, without it, an order, even for the CS100s that would be used throughout Europe is unlikely. This rating might be difficult for Bombardier to pull off provided that the P&W engines have constantly have troubles although it is possible.

My Thoughts:

I think that the CS100 would work for British Airways very well. It is a replacement for two aircraft, which both do very different jobs for the airline. If Bombardier can get that ETOPS-180 rating I could see them ordering seventeen CS100s and six or seven options. One would be a replacement to the A318, sixteen would replace out the E190s, and the six or seven options would go as a replacement to the E170s. This would streamline their their fleet further and would save costs.

Although, British Airways could very well discontinue the A318 London - New York service due to low demand and simply book the same business class passengers on the 777s 747s and A380s they fly out of Heathrow and Gatwick. Then they could possibly replace the ERJs with the new E2 series, this would save a lot of money with pilot type ratings because the E2 shares a lot of commonality with the ERJs they already operate.

Your Thoughts:

What do you think about the CS100?
Should British Airways place an order?
Can Bombardier get ETOPS-180 on the CS100?

What Should British Airways Do?
  • British Airways Should Buy The Bombardier CS100
  • British Airways Should Buy The Embraer ERJ-190E2
  • British Airways Should Do Something Else (Comment Below)

0 voters

Works Cited

Airbus A220 - Wikipedia
A map from the Great Circle Mapper - Great Circle Mapper
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http://www.airfleets.net/ageflotte/British%20Airways.htm
BA CityFlyer - Wikipedia

Thanks for reading :)

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To be honest, it seems like there are a lot more factors involved in this, and we’re not in a position to be judging what they do. If, for whatever reason, it turns out the MC21 is he best aircraft, I will not automatically think it is a bad decision. Is the CS100 a great aircraft? Yes! But, there are always tradeoffs and we simply do not have the information available.

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I would love to see these at Bristol Airport 😍

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Thinking about it this plane would be perfect for Air New Zealand. 🤔
But it would also work for BA.

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While yes, we aren’t making the decision for British Airways, it’s still fun to analyze what the options are and come to an educated guess. We don’t have all of the information available the Internet is very vast and plenty of resources are available to make an educated decision.

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Buy the CS, sick of the A318 being allowed to fly across the Atlantic from London city.

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Completely agree with you there. The CS, would be an amazing addition to the fleet for BA.

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Only if it replaced the 318

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Yeah haha! It would have to replace the A318.

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The biggest selling point would be it can do EGLC-KJFK nonstop. Currently the babybus has to stop over in Shannon due to the headwinds.

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I think the CS300 would be perfect

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The -300 isn’t certified for the steep approach at London City. It also seats a few too many passengers, in my opinion, to be a likely replacement to the ERJ, which operates at EGLC.

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Ok then the cs100 or 200

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The -200 doesn’t exist.
The -100 is the only real option from Bombardier.

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Fine… first I don’t know 200’s didn’t exist so yah 100 wold die just right

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If British Airways orders this aircraft for LCY-JFK, it will be operating at the limits of CS100 and may require a diversion airport for refueling in case the weather is bad (Unless they have got their ETOPS 180 rating) from what I can see in the map (a stop in Shannon should work)

But for other routes leaving LCY, I have to agree that Bombardier CSeries would be a perfect candidate to replace these Embraers. But there’s a minor problem with ordering CS in my opinion. As Bombardier CS series delivery schedule is really slow and it’s unexpectable, British Airways would have to wait several years until they get their first CSeries. But this shouldn’t be a problem anymore as Airbus has injected some money to this project, giving it a brighter future for the project. I’m looking forward to see a CSeries painted in British Airways in the future 😊

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Indeed does British Airways look cool on the C-Series!

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No, the CS100 won’t be perfect for British Airways. Will it tick more boxes compared to the E2? I believe so. If the CS100 can fly LCY-JFK non-stop, it opens up options for business travellers. With Global Entry, they can go from office to curb at JFK faster than ever before. In addition, regionally-configured aircraft can fly every existing route in the LCY network with increased capacity and reduced trip costs compared to the E190. I would say the CS100 will be a superior proposition for regional flights, the commonality with the proposed JFK equipment would be the cherry on top.

Would they? There are some high-yielding passengers who might question his/her loyalty to BA if they discontinue the LCY flight, making their key differentiator disappear. The C-Series will offer a 20-25% reduction on trip fuel costs, that’s 2 less seats they have to sell before they break even.

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You have to remember that that range is based off a full two class aircraft. In a reduced seating (32-40 business class seats) it could technically fly even further.

As you said, it just needs the ETOPS-180 rating.

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The A318 can’t do LCY-JFK non stop since it’s not possible for it to safely take off from LCY and have enough runway left to reject with enough fuel to do it.

The CS100 can theoretically do it but let’s see whether it can realistically do it. If it is right on the edge of what’s capable then any adverse headwind is going to have it constantly diverting to fuel stop on the way.

The LCY-JFK is likely not to survive long term, demand is down anyway, there used to be two rotations and now there is one. Crossrail is likely to reduce demand further. Most frequent flyers to the US now have Global Entry anyway now so the advantage of pre-clearing at SNN is really of little draw now.

The CS100 may be a longer term replacement for the ERJ170/190 Cityflyer operate but only if they want to move to another type. It certainly would not be bought just to operate LCY-JFK.

1 Like