Canada’s aviation giant Bombardier was expected to unveil its CSeries, a fuel-sipping “greener” rival to smaller aircraft made by industry leaders Airbus and Boeing, yesterday in Britain, local media said on Saturday.
Bombardier, a leading manufacturer in railway equipment and the third largest global builder of airplanes, is looking to deliver a model that consumes 20 percent less fuel, thanks to a new motor style and lighter composite materials, Canada’s La Presse reported.
The CSeries twin-engine aircraft seats 110 to 130 people, and would compete with Airbus’ A319 (125 seats) and Boeing’s B737-600 and 700 (110 to 130 seats).
“The Farnborough [Britain] air show officially does not open until Monday [today] but Bombardier is in the habit of making its big announcements on the eve of a show opening,” the Montreal paper’s aeronautics expert wrote.
OFF THE BACK BURNER
The company put the CSeries project on hold in May 2006, after it had been in the works for a decade, but relaunched the process last year once it appeared that rising fuel costs would ignite demand for a more fuel-efficient aircraft.
Jacques Kavafian, an analyst at Research Capital, wrote this week that “identified potential customers now include China Southern, Shanghai Airlines, Lufthansa, ILFC, and Qatar Airways.”
China Southern and Shanghai Airlines could be the main clients for the test phase of the aircraft, and have already ordered around 100 CSeries aircraft, which are available beginning in 2013.
“Interest [in the Cseries] is indeed out there,” Bombardier spokesman March Duchesne said, without providing any confirmation of the release plans.
BIG AND SMALL
Bombardier projects that after the initial production run of 100 to 150 planes, as many as 6,300 could be manufactured in the coming 20 years.
The CSeries “will be the biggest among the regional carriers or the smallest among the big airlines,” said Isabelle Dostaler, an aeronautics industry expert at Concordia University.
“That’s what worried some, ‘Why awaken the sleeping giants?’ But at the same time, Boeing and Airbus are busy with other things at the moment with their new projects. That’s the thinking,” she said.
Bombardier is later on the scene than its Brazilian rival, Embraer, which launched a 108 to 118 seat plane in 2004 as part of its E170/190 line.
The market is ruled by Europe’s Airbus and the US’ Boeing, but their A319 and B737-600 and 700 are considered aging models.
Bombardier says it will require US$2.5 billion in initial investment funds, and hopes to share the bill with the British, Canadian and Quebec governments as well as with front-end suppliers.
Potential manufacturing sites include the US state of Missouri and Mirabel, on the outskirts of Montreal.
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