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FACTBOX-Key facts about Bombardier's CSeries jetliner
34 minutes ago by Thomson Reuters
June 13 (Reuters) - The following are some facts about
Bombardier Inc's all new CSeries, a narrow-body
jetliner that the Canadian planemaker will have its maiden
flight by the end of June. The company expects it to enter
service by middle of 2014.
HISTORY
Five years in development, the $3.4 billion aircraft will
expand Montreal-based Bombardier's commercial plane business
beyond the regional and corporate jet market, bringing it into
direct competition with industry leaders Boeing Co and
Airbus.
Bombardier first announced the CSeries in 2004, but after
investing $100 million in development, it failed to sign up
customers and shelved the program in 2006. It kept the concept
alive with $20 million in annual funding and a skeleton crew.
The company restarted the program in 2008 after Germany's
Deutsche Lufthansa AG signed a letter of interest for
30 firm and 30 optional plane orders.
SPECS
The 110-seat CS100, with a list price of about $63 million,
will compete with Embraer SA's E-190 and E-195, which
can seat between 98 and 124. It will also compete with Airbus's
107- to 132-seat A318 and Boeing's 110-to 132-seat
737-600. The CS100 can seat up to 125.
The 130-seat CS300, listed at about $72 million, will go up
against Airbus's 124-156 seat A319 and Boeing's 126-to 149-seat
737-700. Bombardier also plans a 160-seat version of the CS300.
Bombardier is assembling five CS100 and two CS300 test
planes.
The CSeries final assembly is done in Mirabel, north of
Montreal. The fuselage and cockpit are manufactured at another
Montreal facility, while the wings are made in Belfast, Northern
Ireland.
A patented "resin transfer infusion" process is used to make
lighter-weight composite wings. The carbon-fiber composite
structures require fewer inspections due to better corrosion
resistance and fatigue strength, the company said.
Bombardier said the plane will have a 15 percent cash
operating cost advantage, 20 percent fuel burn advantage and
will be significantly quieter.
The CSeries will use two of Pratt & Whitney's new
geared turbofan engines, the PurePower PW1500G and have a range
of 2,950 nautical miles (5,463 km). It is 12,000 pounds (5,400
kg) lighter than other aircraft in the same seat category.
BOOK ORDERS
The jet is scheduled to enter service in mid-2014 and the
company has said it wants 300 firm orders by then. Bombardier
said it had 177 firm orders for the planes as of June 4, 2013.
Nine companies have placed firm orders for the two CSeries
models, Bombardier said, with additional orders from clients it
has not named:
Customer CS100 CS300 Total
Orders
Air Baltic 0 10 10
Braathens Aviation/Malmo 5 5 10
Deutsche Lufthansa 30 0 30
Ilyushin Finance Co 32 0 32
Gulf Air 10 0 10
Korean Air 0 10 10
Lease Corp International 3 17 20
PrivatAir 5 0 5
Republic Airways 0 40 40
Undisclosed 10 0 10
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95 82 177
(Reporting by Susan Taylor; Additional reporting by Solarina
Ho; Editing by Grant McCool, Phil Berlowitz and Jeffrey Benkoe)