Bombardier Aerospace has received a massive boost with the announcement of 22 firm orders from two airlines for its new CSeries commmercial jet, parts of which are made in Belfast.
An airline, based in the Americas whose name was not disclosed by Bombardier because it requested anonymity, has signed a letter of intent to acquire 12 of the CS100 aircraft in a deal valued at
$870-million (US).
The airline has also taken options on an additional 18 aircraft, which if converted to firm orders could see the value of the contract increase to $2.08 billion (US).
And airBaltic has signed a firm purchase agreement to acquire 10 of the larger Bombardier CS300 aircraft. The Riga, Latvia-based airline also has purchase rights on a further 10 CS300 aircraft. The purchase agreement represents the conversion to firm orders of a letter of intent announced at the Farnborough Air Show in July this year.
The firm-order contract is valued at approximately $764 million (US) and could increase to $1.57 billion (US) should the 10 purchase rights be converted to firm orders.
Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer, airBaltic said:
"A modern and efficient fleet is one of the fundamentals of the airline business, and this order is a progressive and exciting move forward for us. Following an in-depth analysis of existing and re-engined
aircraft, as well as the new technologies offered by Bombardier's all-new CSeries aircraft, the results were clear and we selected the CSeries airliner,"
The Belfast operation of Canadian owned Bombardier, is responsible for the design and manufacture of the composite wings for the new CS100 and CS300 aircraft.
A spokesman for Bombardier Aerospace, Belfast, said:
"We're proud to have delivered the wings for the first flight test CSeries aircraft, assembly of which is under way. In October we delivered the first set of wings for the static test airframe, which forms part of the comprehensive ground test programme. The CSeries aircraft wings are the largest and most complex composite structures manufactured and assembled in the UK using a unique resin transfer infusion technology, developed by Bombardier in Belfast. We believe this represents a step change in aircraft wing technology, and further strengthens the UK's strategic goal of being the world leader in aircraft wing design and manufacture."
Bombardier's CSeries will compete head-on with the smaller Boeing and Airbus jets.
Commenting on the latest orders Mike Arcamone, President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft said:
"We are thrilled with the worldwide momentum of interest being shown for the CSeries aircraft program and we are pleased that customers in both our traditional aviation markets and growth markets are
exploring opportunities and centering business cases around the use of the CSeries jetliners."
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