Bombardier reaches flight milestone with C Series jet

Canada's Bombardier is celebrating at this week's Farnborough Airshow after reaching a key milestone with its first C Series plane, a new generation of medium-haul jet plagued by delays and rising costs.

The planemaker hopes to win fresh orders for its fuel-efficient C Series -- which has between 100 and 150 seats -- and which will enter commercial service for the first time for airline Swiss on Friday.

"We've gotten a lot of momentum since last year," Fred Cromer, president of Bombardier's commercial aircraft division, told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of Farnborough.

The C Series -- whose two models comprise the C100 and the C300 -- seeks to challenge the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737 in the market for medium-range, single-aisle aircraft.

"We have certified the aircraft. We actually have the first delivery now to Swiss, we've got a big event today to celebrate that, and they are putting the aircraft into service this coming Friday.

"So if you think about all the milestones along the way, we are getting this momentum, and then in the first half of this year we announced the large orders for both Air Canada and Delta, which has in our view relaunched the programme and gained the industry attention that we were looking for."

The Swiss company has taken delivery of a CS100, the smallest model in the range, and its first commercial flight is scheduled for Friday between Zurich and Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

The C Series is two-and-a-half years behind schedule, and its cost at $5.4 billion is nearly double the initial estimate. Production began in 2008 after a launch back in 2004.

- Spate of orders -

Bombardier has now clinched 370 firm orders for its new aircraft from such carriers as Air Canada, Delta, Korean Airlines and Swiss.

Meanwhile on Monday, the group won certification from the Canadian government for its CS300 passenger jet and the first ones will be delivered late this year.

Cromer denied that the group regarded itself as the "underdog" seeking to break the Airbus-Boeing duopoly.

"A lot is made of this underdog story -- taking on the big guys -- but if you look at the market that we are trying to serve, it is really focussed with the CS100 and the CS300 in the 100-150 seat market," Cromer said.

"And Boeing and Airbus are really optimising around a larger seat count.

"And so direct competition -- it is not really what everyone else is trying to make out."

Bombardier bills its mid-range carrier as the quietest in its range.

It says the plane is 20 percent more fuel efficient than other planes of its class and 10 percent more than refitted Airbus and Boeing planes.

"So we have got an airplane that really focuses on the 100-150 seat market we see 7,000 airplanes in that market over the next 20 years," Cromer added.

"I think given the economics in what we are delivering, all new technology clean-sheet aircraft, we should do very well in getting more than our fair share of that market."

Questioned about the steep discounts given to early customers like Delta, Cromer said everyone offered attractive prices in the launch phase.

"I think if you think about a new aircraft programme in the launch phase...you tend to be a little bit more aggressive with those early customers, to gain confidence, to bring large orders in the order book," he told AFP.

Cromer meanwhile talked down the impact of Brexit -- or Britain's exit from the European Union -- on the outlook for global aircraft demand.

He highlighted instead that the broader sector enjoys consistent and solid growth in passenger traffic.

rfj/ach