It's not surprising that Pratt & Whitney is commending Republic on its recent order for the Bombardier CSeries, powered, of course, by P&W's PW1000G geared turbofan.
While no one knows the final price paid by Republic, the deal itself does give Bombardier and Pratt & Whitney its first North American customer for the CSeries.
So what's P&W's take? During the recent analyst day at P&W's parent company United Technologies P&W President David Hess touted the "huge traction" the geared turbofan is gaining in the market.
Hess believes the fact that Republic is using the CSeries to replace Airbus A319s operated at its subsidiary Frontier Airlines gives a lot of credence to his belief the engine is gaining market acceptance.
It's tough to say if one order will accelerate highly-ancitipated plans by Airbus and Boeing to finalise schemes this year to re-engine their narrowbody programmes, but it does pose an interesting case to airlines evaluating potential re-engined products and the clean-sheet CSeries. Let me stress, I recently had a conversation with an incredibly wise source where this concept was bantered around.
How much are you willing to pay for the efficiency offered by the CSeries versus Airbus and Boeing offering a known product at a significant price advantage?
It's an evaluation that's no doubt taking place at several North American carriers as they weigh a key decisions in 100-150-seat replacements.
United could be a bellwether for how the competition plays out as they've reportedly asked all four major airframers to participate in discussions regarding narrowbody replacement. And United's management remains committed to making a decision this year on its narrowbody strategy.
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