Chapter 834: The Rise of C101

However, this survey did not attract the attention of airlines, because only 30% of them, and the remaining 70% were not potential customers.

Moreover, airlines also have cheap tickets, and the ticket prices on the same flight may vary greatly.

This is actually a bit like hitchhiking. In the end, it seems that the seats are not full, so they sell them at a very low price. Anyway, they have to fly a trip.

Moreover, the plane allows overselling, which means that even if you buy a ticket first, you may not be able to get on the plane... If the person who buys the ticket later pays more than you, it is very likely that your seat will be taken by someone else.

So in the same flight, the person next to you may pay a much lower fare than you, and of course it is also possible that you pay a much lower fare than the person next to you.

Of course, don't think about refunding or changing the low-priced ticket, because the refund and change fee is charged according to the price before the discount, and you may have to pay more.

Some low-priced tickets do not even have refunds or changes. This will be informed when you buy the ticket, which means that if you buy it, you can sit on it, and if you don't sit on it, it will be invalid.

In fact, the airlines made a common mistake in this statistics, that is, they only counted the customers who are flying now.

Low-cost airlines are more about developing customers who want to go to other places and cannot choose expensive air tickets.

Passenger planes are divided into several levels of layout, and the first level layout is a unified type of seat.

The second level layout is first class and economy class.

There is also a three-level layout, first class, business class, and economy class.

In fact, it is the width of the seat. The economy class has three seats, and the first class may have only one seat.

Southwest Airlines' C101 is, to be precise, a stretched A320.

The appearance of this aircraft was seen by Liu Hai in an aviation magazine on the aircraft carrier. The name is A320XRL. The magazine said that it will be in service in 2024, and it is said that there are many potential customers.

That is, 48 ​​more seats are added on the basis of A320, reaching 206 seats.

Although C101 is improved on the basis of A320, the appearance has changed, because the lengthening of the aircraft is not simply to lengthen it directly at the back.

The wings, fuselage and other parts need to be changed.

The C101 has added a central fuel tank, and its range can reach more than 8,700 kilometers. In addition, it can be equipped with an extended-range fuel tank to increase the range.

The C101 adopts a single-aisle layout, which is similar to the A320.

The seat ticket price of the C101 has not actually dropped to the lowest, because the C101 is all domestically produced parts, so the cost price is much lower than that of similar foreign types.

This is also why Heshun Airlines wants to produce new DC10 cargo planes, because the price of new cargo planes is within an acceptable range compared to the price of purchasing foreign second-hand aircraft for modification.

After all, foreign second-hand passenger planes have been flying for so many years, and their service life is greatly discounted.

Even dealers have ordered DC10 cargo planes for logistics transportation.

DC10 passenger planes are banned from flying in Bald Eagle, but cargo planes are not banned.

The wings of the C101 also have shark fin wings, which are the points that everyone sees on the tip of the Airbus wing.

It's just a little thing. Taking the A320 as an example, it can theoretically save 4% of the engine's fuel consumption, increase the range by 100 nautical miles at the same weight, or carry 450 kilograms more at the same distance and the same fuel consumption.

European airlines have not yet developed this thing, because they have to install a dovetail wing first, but the lower end of the dovetail wing will bring some side effects, so after wind tunnel testing, the shark fin was available.

Heshun Airlines still delivered the second C101 to Southwest Airlines because it was produced according to orders.

Not to mention that no one dares to write a note or say hello, even if someone dares to write a note or say hello, Heshun Airlines will not pay attention to these people.

Passengers are willing to choose to take C101, not only because the ticket price is cheap, but also because the sitting time is shorter.

In fact, in 2020, Western countries were dissatisfied with our airlines because of the aircraft's range.

Because in 2020, the same flight time from Kyoto to Paris was several hours shorter than that of Western airlines.

Because our civil airliners can directly pass through our northern neighbor to Europe.

However, due to sanctions between the West and its northern neighbor, neither side allows the other's airliners to enter their airspace.

Therefore, Western airlines can only go through the Mediterranean, then through the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, which not only takes longer than our own airlines, but also consumes more fuel.

Now Southwest Airlines' C101 directly goes from the southwest, through the eastern part of its own third-largest country, through Bangladesh, through the Indian Ocean, and then refuels in Camel.

Because refueling is cheap in Camel, C101 does not have as many seats as other wide-body aircraft, so it is not necessary to transfer passengers.

Other wide-body aircraft transfer on the road and have to pick up and drop off passengers. This is to maximize the benefits of the route, which will delay more time.

The time for refueling alone is relatively short, and the passengers can go down for a walk and some activities.

After refueling in Camel, it will fly directly to Europe. For the same route, the time is nearly three hours earlier than that of a wide-body aircraft.

Because the time for passengers to board and unload luggage at the transfer station is much longer than refueling alone.

Of course, the only drawback may be that the pilots' wages are lower, because most pilots are paid by the hour.

Southwest Airlines equipped the second C101, which flew domestic routes and also achieved full capacity.

Other airlines saw this and were not happy. Why was his ticket price so much lower than mine, and he had direct flights between the two cities.

Other airlines unanimously asked the superior department to mediate, that is, C101 should be arranged in rows to share the fruits.

These companies also want this kind of cost-effective aircraft, because this kind of aircraft is very cost-effective whether it flies domestically or internationally.

Just the theoretical 4% fuel saving of this aircraft, how much fuel money can be saved in a year.

Let's not talk about the fuel cost, just carry a few hundred kilograms each time, and the air parcel transportation fee is not cheap.

As for the pilot's salary, this can of course be discussed, such as how much it costs to fly a route.

This matter was brought to Liu Hai again.

"It depends on the opinion of Southwest Airlines. We just deliver the aircraft according to the customer's order." Liu Hai also knew that the superior department must have communicated with Southwest Airlines when this matter was brought to him.

Sun Aiguo chuckled: "The second C101 of Southwest Airlines flies domestic routes. In fact, I think it's okay to sit in this seat."

"It's much more comfortable than going back to my hometown. Fortunately, there are sleeper berths when I take the train to my hometown. After arriving at the station, I have to take a two-hour bus."

"At least there is air conditioning on the plane, and it's not as uncomfortable as the shaking of the bus. I can read a book, listen to music, adjust my seat and take a nap on the plane."

Liu Hai nodded: "This plane is indeed like those foreign aviation experts said, it is very suitable for our national conditions, but as I said, there are more poor people in this world."

"Southwest Airlines has agreed, and other airlines will give Southwest Airlines a certain amount of compensation." Sure enough, Sun Aiguo's next words confirmed Liu Hai's guess.

Sun Aiguo is now ordinary, with gray hair, glasses, work clothes, and a stainless steel tea cup in his hand. He looks like an old retired worker.

"There is no objection in our factory. I will call them later." Liu Hai nodded.

The reason for calling the factory is that each airline has different seat layout options and different fuselage paint.

Some airlines are willing to add more first-class cabins, while some airlines are unwilling to do so.

The aircraft manufacturer provided a lot of seat layout diagrams.

Changing the order means changing the process technology on the production line.

Any changes abroad will cost extra money, but everyone is a family, and the profit of C101 is still considerable.

So Liu Hai did not mention the extra money.

"After equipping C101, these airlines are going to retire the previous DC10."

"The range of more than 8,000 kilometers is enough to fly around the world."

"Anyway, we won't go to Bald Eagle!"

Liu Hai nodded: "If Bald Eagle doesn't give us routes, then don't give us routes."

That's right, Bald Eagle doesn't give us airline routes, and we don't give Bald Eagle routes either.

However, there are direct flights to Bald Eagle, both in Hong Kong Island and the opposite island, and in the small book.

C101 can also fly the small book!

"The bald eagle is going to give it to me but I won't go. DC10 has such a good reputation today. Maybe someone is behind it." Liu Hai said again.

"This is obvious. DC10 has been flying in our country for so long. How come nothing happened? It's nothing more than something done by competitors. Anyway, whoever benefits is the most suspicious."

Sun Aiguo nodded, and then said another thing: "McDonnell Douglas' new aircraft MD11 has started production, but I heard that the aircraft did not perform well in the test, and many airlines have cancelled the order."

"I don't know what their company thinks, they have to compete with Sanji!" Liu Hai shook his head when he heard this.

"Some people are just so stubborn. I guess their design department likes Sanji." Sun Aiguo also shook his head.

"How is your ex-wife's preparation at the European airline?" Sun Aiguo asked again.

"It's ready. Now we're just waiting for the plane." C101 aircraft now has more than 200 orders, and Xiaoyun's airline has added some orders, with a total order of 40.

Domestic airlines saw that Southwest Airlines performed so well and also placed additional orders.

In addition, some foreign airlines are in contact. Generally speaking, foreign airlines are still very tempted.

First of all, the price of the aircraft is lower than that of the same type. Now foreign airlines are worried about the problems after the operation of this type of aircraft.

Except for the bald eagle, there is no one in foreign countries who is blind enough to say that they want to boycott C101!

Because the exported C101 aircraft use engines produced by Rolls-Royce.

Boycotting C101, isn’t this boycotting Rolls-Royce? Boycotting Rolls-Royce means looking down on me, Niu Niu?

Don’t you know that I am the lighthouse of the world now?

Do you want the lighthouse of the world to teach you a lesson and let you know what freedom is?

"C101 is also a hit." Sun Aiguo nodded. The excellent performance of Southwest Airlines made other airlines feel relieved.

Because the performance of C101 before was that the price was lower, it was hard to say whether the market would buy it or not, because C101 was contrary to the direction of market development.

Domestic airlines also import foreign aircraft, that is, European passenger aircraft.

Bald Eagle banned DC10 passenger aircraft from flying and did not give routes, so we did not buy their Boeing aircraft.

In fact, Boeing did not take our market seriously in the early days, because they did not think that many people in our country could afford to take a plane.

It's just that our development speed is too fast, and now Boeing wants to enter, that is impossible.

Because of the vigorous development of civil aviation passenger aircraft in this time and space, civil aviation technology companies were established many years earlier than in history. Southwest Airlines was established in 1980, and propeller aircraft were used at that time.

Other Eastern Airlines, Southeast Airlines, etc. were also established at that time.

Eastern Airlines got the third C101, and also flew international routes, from Shanghai to Rome.

The round trip was also full, and the passenger aircraft's route was not a straight line.

The routes of passenger planes are actually winding. On the one hand, they avoid conflict areas, and on the other hand, they try to avoid flying over the sea for a long time.

Because safety comes first, if there is a problem with the plane, it can make an emergency landing in a place with land and cities.

Just like flying from our country to New York in 2020, you can fly directly to Shandong first, then cross South Korea, then arrive in Xiaobenzi, go north to the Bering Strait through Alaska, then pass through Canada, and then to New York.

On the one hand, it is because of air flow, and on the other hand, there are multiple cities and airports along the way to maximize the safety of the route.

Of course, when selling tickets, airlines will not directly reduce the face value of the ticket, but give a discount.

So the surface fare on these routes to Europe is still the same, but the price after the discount is lower than the original price.

As for why this is the case, of course, it is to avoid other people's opinions when the fare fluctuates.

And the discount is easy to say, that is, the discount is different, the discount range is different, and the fare is still the same.

After flying a flight, China Eastern Airlines calculated the account and found that the profit was higher than that of non-wide-body large passenger aircraft, but of course the total revenue was much lower.

But the expenses are also much lower. The airport fees for wide-body aircraft and this type of aircraft are completely different.

The tonnage of the aircraft is different, and the fees at the airport are completely different. There are also hotel fees for crew members, fuel fees, etc.

Don't underestimate these expenses. If they are added up in a year, they are also considerable.

And wide-body aircraft cannot be fully occupied every time. The ticket prices of wide-body aircraft fluctuate greatly because they are often not fully occupied.

Although the number of seats in C101 is much less than that of wide-body aircraft, the ticket prices for the same seats are basically the same. There will not be seats with too outrageous prices that lower other prices.

China Eastern Airlines has placed an additional order for 20 aircraft and stated that C101 will be used for all international routes.