Original quote by CabinCrewe;
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does anyone else have an iffy feeling about this? Can we really see a fleet of 20 Cityjet Sukhois? Who woyld want to buy it? Can only see a wet lease model perhaps working given that a lot of their scheduled route attempts have been duds ]
I agree entirely about the wet lease model, I would hope that this is what is planned. Otherwise Cityjet need to be part of something bigger. The plan to buy the new fleet will centre on a few things,
- High cost of operating the ARJs which have 4 engines will be reduced
- The ARJ fleet was the subject of a sale and lease back to raise funds, so the business case for the new jets in terms of lease payments will be easily compared and must surely stack up
- As already said Sukhoi will have given a significant discount to put the type firmly on the map in Western Europe.
From my perspective it is only a pity that the order did not go to C-Series, time was not on C-Series side, with certification some way off for LCY I would have thought....