CityJet (WX, Dublin International) owner, Intro Aviation, is reportedly cosying up to the Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau) C-Series as a proposed replacement for the airline's ageing fleet of ARJ-85s and Fokker 50s. With the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (Zhukovsky) SSJ 100/95 also under consideration, Bloomberg news says the German firm will likely make a decision on its Cityjet and VLM (1992) (Antwerp) fleet renewal plan in late-September.
“If we opt for a homogeneous fleet, the CSeries would be advantageous,” Intro founder Hans Rudolf Woehrl said in an interview. “It’s not just about the model. It’s about maintenance, reliability, simulator capacities, resale potential, financing and total costs.”
The newswire states Intro is studying all CSeries variants including possible mixed and pure orders for the upcoming A220-100 and the nascent CS300. It is also considering a possible CS300-SSJ 100 mixed order though this is dependent on both aircraft satisfying the rigours of operating out of the technically-challenging London City airport.
Woehrl added that plans to acquire either A320 or B737 for its non-London City operations will be pushed back a year.
Intro Aviation acquired Cityjet and its Belgian subsidiary, VLM, from Air France (AF, Paris CDG) in April for an undisclosed sum.
