Bombadier pushes first flight of CSeries to occur by June 2013

Bombardier_logoBombardier released its third quarter 2012 results and confirmed that the first flight of the CSeries prototype aircraft is not expected to occur by the end of 2012.

As well, difficulties with the companies rail division, slowing orders and other charges meant that the company will face $150 million in restructuring charges in the fourth quarter of 2012 as the result of a 1,200 employee workforce reduction linked to the closure of a rail equipment plant in Germany.

The company’s net income in the quarter ending September 30th, 2012, rose to US$212 million but its revenues came in less than analysts had expected. Revenue dropped to US$4.3 billion, down $300 million from the third quarter of 2011. Most of the decline was from Bombardier Transportation while revenue at Bombardier Aerospace fell slightly.

Bombardier also announced that there would be a delay in the first flight of the CSeries commercial jet until sometime in the first half of 2013. The company said that it now expects the prototype aircraft to have its first flight before the end of June 2013, which most analysts and those familiar with the program expected for some time.

“The CS100 aircraft’s first flight will now occur by the end of June 2013 — a timeline that all parties have agreed is achievable… We will continue to give regular updates on the program, with a more detailed review during the first quarter of next year.” Pierre Beaudoin, President and Chief Executive Officer said.

Bombardier’s backlog of orders at the end of September was US$26.1 billion, up 18.6 per cent from the end of 2011. The company is actively seeking new orders from Delta Air Lines for 70 new regional jets, Indonesia’s Garuda for 50 new turboprops, and orders from Continental, US Airways and American Airlines.

The History of Canadair Regional Jet MSN 7009

This is one in a series of articles on Winglets which track the histories of Canadair Regional Jets.

Canadair Regional Jet RJ100LR MSN 7009 D-ACLd in service with Lufthansa Cityline (Photo By: Darren Varney)

Canadair Regional Jet RJ100LR MSN 7009
D-ACLD in service with Lufthansa Cityline
(Photo By: Darren Varney)

  • MSN 7009
  • C-FMKW, D-ACLD, OY-RJE
  • Ninth Canadair Regional Jet Built
  • Operated for Lufthansa Cityline and Cimber Sterling.
  • Built as a CRJ-100ER variant and converted to the CRJ-100LR configuration.

Aircraft History

C-FMKW, 7009, was the ninth Canadair Regional Jet built and began its service life with Lufthansa Cityline. 7009 was delivered in December 1992 as D-ACLD and was configured as a RJ100ER aircraft.  7009 was to be delivered as D-ARJD, but it and all further CRJs in Cityline’s first order were to be registered in the D-ACL series instead. The aircraft did undergo a conversion to the RJ100LR configuration, but never underwent the upgrade to the RJ200LR configuration like other members of the CityLine CRJ fleet did.

The aircraft flew in various Lufthansa titles as did all of the CityLine CRJ fleet during their service. 7009 was withdrawn from service in February 2007 and then leased on to Cimber Air in April 2007. The aircraft operated with Cimber Air until the airline restructured and became Cimber Sterling. 7009 is, as of October 2012, is storage after the closure of Cimber Sterling.

 

Canadair Regional Jet RJ100LR MSN 7009 D-ACLD in Lufthansa Colours and Titles (Photo By: Ralf Meyermann)

Canadair Regional Jet RJ100LR MSN 7009
D-ACLD in Lufthansa Colours and Titles
(Photo By: Ralf Meyermann)

 

Canadair Regional Jet RJ100LR MSN 7009 D-ACLD in Lufthansa Regional Colours (Photo By: Thomas Noack)

Canadair Regional Jet RJ100LR MSN 7009
D-ACLD in Lufthansa Regional Colours
(Photo By: Thomas Noack)

 

Canadair Regional Jet RJ100LR MSN 7009 D-ACLD in Partial Lufthansa Cityline Colours and No Titles (Photo By: Wolfgang Zilske)

Canadair Regional Jet RJ100LR MSN 7009
D-ACLD in Partial Lufthansa Cityline
Colours and No Titles
(Photo By: Wolfgang Zilske)

 

Canadair Regional Jet RJ100LR MSN 7009 OY-RJE in service with Cimber Air in SAS - Scandinavian Airlines Colours (Photo By: Ronny Busch)

Canadair Regional Jet RJ100LR MSN 7009
OY-RJE in service with Cimber Air in
SAS – Scandinavian Airlines Colours
(Photo By: Ronny Busch)

COMAC pushes on with ARJ21 assembly plans

Comac announced its future plans for production of the ARJ21 and C919 programs. The company expects to produce 50 ARJ21s annually by 2014 and 150 C919s by 2020.

There are four ARJ21s being used in the program’s flight testing currently.

The first C919 is now scheduled to make its first flight in 2014 and enter service in 2016. Comac has also announced an order book of 330 orders for the aircraft.

The ARJ21’s target for certification has recently slipped again, to 2014 from the last announcement earlier this year of mid-2013. Flight testing and avionics issues are delaying the program according to reports.

Historical CRJ Operators – Dac Air

This is one in an ongoing series of articles on Winglets that will summarize past airlines and other operators of CRJ aircraft that are no longer in existence.

Dac Air

  • Romanian Charter Airline
  • Operated 1995-1998
  • Formed by Tarom
  • Number of CRJs Operated: 2 CRJ-200LR
  • 3 CRJ-200LR On Order, but Cancelled

Dac Air was a Romanian charter airline that was formed by Tarom to operate short and medium length routes within Romania and the surrounding region of Europe. The history of this airline was a troubled one as some aircraft ordered by the airline were painted in its colours, but not delivered, or delivered and not operated or other odd situations occurred. Eventually the airline ceased operations and all aircraft were returned. Dac Air had planned to operate a mix of CRJ-200 and DHC-8-300 aircraft, and had several of both types painted in its colour scheme.

 

CRJ Fleet

Dac Air operated a total of two Canadair Regional Jets in its fleet, all being CRJ-200LR series aircraft:

MSN 7137           YR-GPA (To LV-ZTB)           CRJ-200LR

MSN 7139          C-GBBY (YR-GPC NTU) (To LV-ZTC)           CRJ-200LR

The second aircraft, 7139, did not actually enter service with Dac Air, but instead was subleased to Lufthansa Cityline for a time. Before the airline ceased operations, Dac Air also had on order three additional CRJ-200LRs which were painted and registered, but were never delivered:

MSN 7138           YR-GPB (To B-4005)           CRJ-200LR

MSN 7149           YR-GPD (To B-4006)           CRJ-200LR

MSN 7170           YR-GPB (To S5-AAE)           CRJ-200LR

 

Dac Air CRJ-200LR MSN 7137 YR-GPA In Full Dac Air Colours (Photo By: Donato Bolelli)

Dac Air CRJ-200LR MSN 7137 YR-GPA
In Full Dac Air Colours
(Photo By: Donato Bolelli)