Ilyushin Finance has modified its CSeries order with Bombardier, reducing firm orders from 32 to 20 CSeries aircraft, and also dropping five options. This reduces the firm order book for the CSeries from 369 to 357. IFC also ordered one Q400 and added 5 options. This order change was not unexpected, given the impact of economic sanctions against Russia and the drop in the Ruble, both of which made life more difficult for IFC.
Today, IFC’s potential customers in Russia cannot afford the new aircraft from Bombardier, so IFC cut back its order and added some less expensive Q400s, which are in demand to replace aging Antonov turboprops in the Russian market. Bombardier wisely agreed to the deal as a work-around to IFC and its customer’s problems, recognizing that when things get better (and they will) IFC will likely be back to replace those orders and options. In the interim, Bombardier can utilize those slots for earlier deliveries for other customers.
The orders with Ilyushin Finance have been considered questionable for some time, and this restructuring appears to be a win-win solution for both IFC and Bombardier, solidifying an order many industry observers felt could have been completely cancelled give the economic situation.
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When you consider how much the last two CSeries customers paid for their aircraft, then Q400 is actually more expensive than a CSeries. Isn’t that a paradox?
The Q400 is also heavily discounted, because of price pressure from the less-capable, but good-enough, ATR-72
The lowest rumor I’ve heard for the Delta CSeries order is $20 million, but more credible estimates are in the $25-30 million range (based on the size of Bombardier’s onerous provision charge, and others digging through financial reports). It’s widely suspected that Delta got one of the best deals yet for the CSeries.
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The Q400 has a $33.5 million list price, and is probably actually selling for half or less of that.
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In short, there’s not much reason to think the Q400 has a higher real price than the CSeries.