Bombardier's second-quarter order book jumped to 86 net units during the three months to the end of July, including 43 for its in-development CSeries narrowbody airliner.
Chief executive Pierre Beaudoin described the improvement as "substantial" - Bombardier notched up just 29 units for the period last year, 15 commercial aircraft and 14 business jets - but warned: "We continue to monitor the economic uncertainty and market volatility in the US and Europe." Bombardier's CRJ regional jets and Q400 turboprops contributed nothing to the order tally. The firm order backlog rose by nearly a fifth during the first half to $23 billion.
Second quarter deliveries at 56 aircraft were up from 49 last time thanks to a rise in business jet handovers. On the commercial aircraft side, deliveries were up by just two units, to 20.
In its first half, Bombardier Aerospace revenue was up nearly 10% to $4.3 billion but earnings before interest and taxes gained only 5% to $246 million. Second quarter revenue was up 10% to $2.1 billion thanks to higher deliveries, but EBIT rose less than 4% to $105 million.
And, the second quarter EBIT margin slipped 0.2% owing in part to rising raw materials costs.
For Bombardier Aerospace, the second quarter also saw a sharp rise in cash consumption, to $448 million compared to a $343 million for the period last year, reflecting continuing investments in its programmes including the CSeries and a lower level of advances from customers.
Beaudoin warned that cash burn would be a feature of the full year: "Given the economic uncertainty in the US and Europe, Bombardier Aerospace expects a continued lower level of advances from customers than initially anticipated for the current fiscal year, mainly due to the postponement of orders in the regional aircraft market."
The order backlogs for its three commerical aircraft programmes stood at 133 for the CSeries, 40 for the Q400 and 61 for the CRJ.
The business aircraft division recorded 43 net orders in the second quarter, taking in 56 orders with 13 cancellations, against 14 net orders for the same period a year earlier. It delivered 35 business aircraft during the period against 30 in the second quarter of 2010.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news