Flight International's analysis of regional jet orders for the first half of the year reveals that the collapse of the market for smaller aircraft puts Bombardier and Embraer's net sales in the red.
The West's two regional jet manufacturers saw a net total of minus two orders during the first six months (for Bombardier, this is the first half of its financial year running 31 January to 31 July). Despite some strong sales in certain categories, the negative total overall resulted from the cancellations of 50-seat and 70-seat aircraft orders.
The accompanying table breaks down orders by category, illustrating that in the 50-seat (Bombardier CRJ200 and Embraer ERJ-145 family) category, net orders totalled minus 45, and the backlog has dropped to just seven aircraft. With both manufacturers having all but terminated production of their small jets, between them they delivered just 10 aircraft.
The 70-seaters also fared badly, with two CRJ701 and E-170 customers, Skywest and US Airways respectively, switching large orders to the bigger CRJ900 and E-190 models.
In the large regional jet category (90-seaters and above), 109 net orders were placed during the first half, but these were offset by the 111 net cancellations in the lower sectors. The largest models produced by Bombardier and Embraer account for four-fifths (299 units) of the total regional jet order backlog.
Source: Flight International
