Bombardier has no intention of adding a stretched version of its CSeries aircraft, loosely dubbed the CS500, to its new jet family.
This is despite industry analysis, notably a consultancy report towards the end of last year, favouring the economics of such an aircraft.
Technically, the airframer could stretch the CSeries, said Bombardier Commercial Aircraft president Gary Scott at the International Society of Transport Aircraft Tradingconference in Scottsdale, Arizona.
But he says the manufacturer is “leaving above 150 [seats] to Boeing and Airbus”, adding: “They can fight it out and they can take on China and Russia and so many others that want to go into that market segment. We just have no interest in that.”
Scott says the manufacturer will have secured some 300 orders for the CSeries by the time the new twinjet enters into service in 2013.
“Rest assured that we will add significantly to our current numbers this year and we will begin to add to these numbers soon,” he says. “I am confident that we will have, at a minimum, the same number of orders that the [Airbus] A320 had when it went into service.”
Airbus had orders for about 300 A320s when the aircraft entered service, says Scott. Bombardier has secured orders for 90 CSeries, which is offered as the 110-seat CS100 and the 130-seat CS300.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
