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AQLE, AT THE HEART OF THE CSeries SAGA
by Romuald Nampon, AQLE Sales Manager
All civil aviation professionals and commentators are familiar with the Saga related to the CSeries program.
The players are well known: Bombardier (which has been examining the feasibility of a new generation of commercial aircraft since 2004), facing off against global giants Boeing and Airbus.
The action takes place on the ground as well as in the air, against a backdrop of political-economic and commercial intrigue that pits the American 737 against the A-318 and A-321 of our European Airbus.
And then, there is a story within the story: that of AQLE, which has the great honor of serving the advancement of this great CSeries program.
This is since January 2012, serving our customer SAFRAN (formerly ZODIAC AERO ELECTRIC).
Prototyping, industrialization, training-qualifications, evolutions, adaptation to order fluctuations... There is no shortage of words.
The CSeries program?
A daily "springboard" for our professionalism and our AQLE agility.
CSeries program at AQLE
wireline specifications, reliability and agility in 7 points!
- 1. Wireline prototyping-modeling of 34 references of wire strands and 22 references of plates for civil aircraft electrical cores.
- 2. Industrialization of the products in order to help our customer in a future transfer in its low cost unit.
- 3. Accompanying our customer in the delivery of the prototypes and in the increase of the project's speed.
- 4. Management of configuration evolutions, reporting of deliveries and logistics flows of remote stocks.
- 5. Training of personnel, ramp up of equipment, duplication of wiring templates and control of product quality.
- 6. Participation in the realization of the definition files in view of the transfer in his unit.
- 7. Fluctuation of the orders: months without production, other months with cadences x7, adaptation of the potential in front of the need and training-qualification of the personnel.
For CSeries enthusiasts
chronicle review
- 2004: Bombardier examines the feasibility of a new generation of commercial aircraft.
- Jan. 31, 2006: considering that market conditions are not favorable enough, Bombardier puts its project on hold.
- January 31, 2007: Bombardier begins work on the CSeries again and estimates that the new aircraft could enter service in 2013.
- January 16, 2014: CSeries entry into service is pushed back to the second half of 2015, Bombardier says, announcing an order for 16 aircraft from Al Qahtani Aviation.
- May 29, 2014: the company suspends flight testing for more than three months following an incident during ground testing of a test aircraft's engine.
- Feb. 27, 2015: the CS300's maiden flight. Company president and CEO Alain Bellemare cites a 2016 entry into service for the aircraft.
- May 7, 2015: Bombardier says Swiss will be the first airline to take delivery of the CSeries in the "first half" of 2016.
- Oct. 29, 2015: Philippe Couillard's government announces it will inject $1.3 billion into Bombardier to help complete the CSeries in exchange for a 49.5 percent stake in the program.
- April 28, 2016: Bombardier announces that Delta Air Lines may purchase up to 125 CSeries aircraft - firm purchase of 75 aircraft and 50 on option, representing the largest order for the program.
- June 29, 2016: Bombardier delivers its first-ever CSeries aircraft to Swiss International Air Lines.
- April 27, 2017: Boeing asks the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to take action against Bombardier's business practices.
- September 26, 2017: The U.S. Department of Commerce imposes preliminary countervailing duties of approximately 220% on the CSeries, nearly three times what Boeing requested in its complaint.
- October 5, 2017: Anti-dumping duties of about 80% targeting the CSeries are announced by Washington.
- October 16, 2017: Bombardier announces an agreement with Airbus that the European giant will become the majority shareholder of the CSeries program.
