Odds and Ends: Airbus Innovation Days, CSeries, SC-787-1 first flight

Airbus Innovation Days: Thursday wraps up the annual Airbus press briefings. All stories are embargoed until 5pm Toulouse time Thursday. That’s today. Or tomorrow. Depends on what time zone you’re in and right now we’re still pretty confused about that. Meantime:

Republic Airways suggests plan for CSeries: CEO Bryan Bedford, whose comments in the last year have done Bombardier no favors, seems to have an intriguing idea, outlined in this story. The airplane is too big to operate for US carriers with Scope Clauses, but the economics provide a highly efficient aircraft for LCCs. So Bedford suggests operating one aligned with alliances.

Southwest, Delta and Boeing Capital: By now readers probably saw the news of a plan for Southwest Airlines to sublease the Boeing 717s from the AirTran fleet to Delta Air Lines. Most of the 88 planes are leased from Boeing Capital Corp by AirTran. This deal has been bandied about almost from the day Southwest agreed to buy AirTran. It’s entirely in keeping with the Delta management (nee Northwest Airlines management), who like to acquire cheap, older aircraft to keep cap-ex costs down.

SC-787-1 First Flight: South Carolina’s first 787 made its first flight yesterday. Or was that today? (We’re still confused by the time zone.) See this story.

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