CSeries family. Image from Bombardier Multimedia
Since it was announced in mid-2004 the Bombardier CSeries has been something of an enigma. Airlines have blown hot and cold on it. Bombardier themselves cancelled the program in early 2006, only to restart it a year or so later. The skeptics out there will have already written this plane off as yet another paper airplane that will never materialize. Until a prototype is built and takes to the skies there is little Bombardier can do to quiet these skeptics. Nor should they, they have bigger fish to fry to give the CSeries lift.
Here are five things I feel Bombardier can do to give this beauty a chance at the big time:
Broaden the marketing offensive. By this I mean Bombardier should work to bring the CSeries into the public eye. Any airline worth its salt already has the CSeries on its radar but in this age of viral media and consumer loud-mouthing Bombardier needs to form a direct connection with the flying public not just the carriers they sell to. The strongest message they can use to foster this relationship is their “lean, clean, green” advantage. Picture a hybrid car commercial except with a plane “With 70% advanced weight-saving materials, 20% less fuel consumption and greatly reduced noise and emissions nothing in its class comes close to the CSeries. Demand the CSeries next time you fly.”
Get a celebrity voice. If Bombardier are really smart they will implement their marketing offensive with the help of a celebrity endorsement (Please don’t let it be Celine Dion ;)). The amount of influence and reach movie stars, musicians and pro-athletes have on the web and on TV is astounding. Bombardier needs to cozy up to one or more stars to drive the CSeries name home. That should be fairly easy given the existence of Flexjet and its clientèle.
Assuming that Bombardier have done their due diligence and targeted airlines whose 320 and 737 fleets are getting on in years they need to swing for the fences. That is to say they should create demand, rather than wait for demand to surface. How do they do that? Create an off-the-shelf airline and find investors to back it. My suggestion: survey and spec’ an LCC operation for South America using the CSeries and get investors on board. There is a real LCC void in South America right now and the first one in stands to make a lot of money.
Up-sell CRJ operators. The messy nature of the airline business has lead many airlines to farm out regional flying to smaller operators – a space in which the CRJ is popular. Such operators typically have lower operational costs than their larger colleagues. In the current economic climate, this has put many of them in a stronger position than the mainline carriers they fly for – strong enough to venture out on their own on certain sectors albeit under a weaker brand name. Consider that one of the orders Bombardier has secured came from Republic Airways Holdings, a company which has its roots in regional flying through its Chatauqua Airlines, Shuttle America and Republic Airlines arms. There are a number of other similar circumstances to investigate.
Address short runways. These are a great niche that the CSeries – certainly a variant of – should be able to handle. Airports such as LCY and SDU would be prime targets. Especially LCY given it is served by Swiss who already have an order in place for the type.
Satisfy Swiss. With all due respect to other buyers Swiss is currently the Bombardier CSeries’ star customer. Do what it takes to make them happy. As a former colleague of mine loved to say “nothing succeeds like success.” With one such marquee success story in the bag others will follow. There is so much opportunity within the Lufthansa Group and the Star Alliance that Bombardier simply can not afford for this relationship to be anything but a success.
Bombardier have the desire and the know-how. At this point it’s a question of will. Bonne chance!
