CSeries First Flight By End Of Year

Bombardier says its CSeries single-aisle airliner is on schedule and will fly by the end of the year. Marc Arcomone, president of commercial aircraft, also says first deliveries will be made by the end of 2013. "Yes, the CSeries program is on track," he told analysts ahead of the all-important Farnborough Air Show in a few weeks. He said that from a technical standpoint, there are no major issues in the way of the current timeline and he also said he's satisfied with the modest (by clean-sheet airliner standards) order book to date for the 110- and 130-seat aircraft. "We are exactly where we want to be with 11 customers and 317 orders," he said. Central are the efficiency claims being made about the CSeries (20 percent on fuel burn) and much of that is due to the PurePower geared turbofans being developed by Pratt & Whitney Canada.

At the conference, P&WC spokesman Bob Saia said that when Bombardier has an airframe, his company will have the engines ready. "We are well on track to certify our engine later this year, and deliver our first engine, so we're very well pleased with our overall results," Saia was quoted by the Montreal Gazette as saying at the conference. He also said the fuel efficiency is a little better than predicted.