Republic can't take their's? Interesting.
I wonder why not? Never mind the Frontier explanation, I know about that.
If they can't, won't, or don't take them, they could have cancelled their order 3 years ago. They didn't. Cancelling now will be expensive.
They could have cancelled 2 years ago. They didn't.
They could have a year ago. Didn't happen.
6 months ago. Nope.
Now that it's certified they have to hand over their first in$tallment, if they haven't already. Still a lot of money (for nothing?)
Willie, it's the
CS100 that's been certified. Republic's orders are all for
CS300s. They won't have to pay a dime extra because the CS100 has been certified!
As explained earlier elsewhere, Republic has incentive to hold on to their order as long as possible. Why? Because of the continuing schedule slippage from Bombardier. More deadlines missed by Bombardier likely means more contractual outs for Republic.
Not to mention, no one has ordered any CSeries since 2014. Until there's more certainty around CS300 deliveries, there's no one Republic can sell their slots to. Conversely, if CS300 orders pick up later in the year, then Republic's early delivery slots become more valuable. So they are content playing the waiting game.
And, the CSeries is absolutely a scope issue. Under current agreements Republic cannot fly them for any of their mainline partners (United / Delta / American).
Why do you think United is considering buying the CSeries themselves for mainline ops? There is
no chance that United's unions will let Republic fly a 130+ passenger jet under the United Express banner,
especially since it's not an RJ.
After Republic sold Frontier, Republic's plan was to start up a NEW domestic airline -- under a new AOC -- to fly the CS300 under a point-to-point business model. But that was before everything imploded.
Now Republic has done a 180 turn, aiming to consolidate operations into a single certificate, which effectively precludes the CSeries. So that's why Republic will not take their CS300 deliveries: because there is no longer a place for them in Republic's business model.
For Bombardier, the "best case" scenario is for United to pick up these CS300s.
However, rumors say Boeing is offering United a sweet deal that's tough to refuse.