Bombardier has identified Swiss International Air Lines as the launch carrier for the CSeries twinjet, with the airline taking delivery in the first half of 2016.
Its formal declaration confirms remarks made by a Swiss executive to Flightglobal in February this year when the carrier’s Americas head, Patrick Heymann, revealed the company would be the first operator.
Bombardier is aiming for certification of the CS100, the initial version of the CSeries, by the end of this year.
The manufacturer intends to display the aircraft at the upcoming Paris Air Show in June and conduct a demonstration for Swiss in Zurich shortly afterwards.
Swiss parent Lufthansa Group ordered 30 of the type for the airline in 2009.
Flight-test data shows that the aircraft is behaving “very much in line with our performance expectations”, says Swiss chief executive Harry Hohmeister.
“We are looking forward to being both the launch customer and the first airline that will operate the CS100.”
Bombardier Commercial Aircraft president Fred Cromer says that Swiss has been an “interactive and highly-engaged” customer during the aircraft’s development.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
