Jul 08 2012

Unnamed airline places order for 15 Bombardier CSeries aircraft

Bombardier_logoBombardier announced on July 8th, 2012, that an airline, who has asked to remain unnamed, has placed a conditional order for five CS100 and 10 CS300 jetliners.

This airline will become the twelfth customer for the CSeries program. The CSeries program currently forecasts the first aircraft to enter service in late 2013.

Customers for the CSeries include Braathens Aviation (five CS100 and five CS300 aircraft), Deutsche Lufthansa AG (30 CS100 aircraft), Korean Air (10 CS300 aircraft), Lease Corporation International Group (17 CS300 and three CS100 aircraft), PrivatAir (five CS100 aircraft), Republic Airways (40 CS300 aircraft), an unidentified major network carrier (10 CS100 aircraft), an unidentified European customer (10 CS100 aircraft) and another unidentified airline (three CS100 aircraft). The CSeries aircraft program also has options for 124 aircraft and purchase rights for 10 aircraft from these customers. Letters of Intent for up to 30 CSeries aircraft from Ilyushin Finance Co, and for up to 15 CS300 aircraft from Atlasjet also exist. Today’s announcement adds a conditional order for five CS100 and 10 CS300 jetliners to the program’s current orders.

Jul 07 2012

China Express Airlines Confirms Order for Six CRJ900 NextGen

ChinaExpressAirLogo

Bombardier announced on July 7th, 2012, that China Express Airlines converted a previously announced conditional order for six CRJ900 NextGen regional jets to a firm order for the aircraft. The agreement also includes options on five CRJ900 NextGen aircraft.

Bombardier had announced on October 26, 2011, that a Chinese airline, which at that time wished to be unidentified, had placed a conditional order for CRJ900 NextGen aircraft. In February of 2012, Bombardier confirmed the order with China Express Airlines. The airline will be the first to operate CRJ900 aircraft in China.

In total Bombardier has firm orders for 1,735 CRJ Series aircraft, including 274 CRJ900 and CRJ900 NextGen aircraft. Worldwide, CRJ Series aircraft are in service with more than 60 airlines and more than 30 customers operate corporate variants of the aircraft.

CRJs are operating in over 50 countries on six continents, and, on average, a CRJ aircraft takes off every ten seconds somewhere in the world. CRJs have transported more than 1.2 billion passengers and have logged more than 33 million flight hours and over 28 million takeoffs and landings during the program’s history.

 

Jul 06 2012

First California Pacific Airlines E170 Delivered

On July 6th, 2012, the first Embraer 170 for California Pacific Airlines was delivered to the airline after being painted in the airline’s livery.

California Pacific Airlines Embraer 170 N174EC

California Pacific Airlines Embraer 170 N174EC

The airline still plans to begin operations from the McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, California this fall. The airline plans to fly between Carlsbad and Cabo San Lucas, Las Vegas, Oakland, Phoenix, Sacramento and San Jose as more aircraft are added to the fleet.

 

Jul 04 2012

Bombardier final assembly line plans finalized

Bombardier_logoBombardier Aerospace has finalized their CSeries production plans and will begin construction of a new final assembly center able to build 100 of the aircraft type per year from a single production line. The layout of this line will be seven positions on a partially pulsed assembly line.

Final assembly of the first complete static-test airframe is scheduled for September 2012, followed immediately afterwards by assembly of the first flight test airframe known in the program as FTV-1.

Four test aircraft will be produced at one-month intervals after that milestone, with the first production aircraft scheduled for delivery within one year of the first flight of the FTV-1 aircraft. Line output is designed to be able to ramp up quickly after entry into service of the CS100, with all 138 CSeries jets currently on order delivered within three years. Bombardier plans for the line to increase production to 100 aircraft a year and then, if orders are received,  the company plans to open a second parallel line to bring production of the CSeries to 200 aircraft per year.