Bombardier is showing off the latest ‘NextGen’ versions of its CRJ regional jet family. A CRJ900 NextGen in the colours of Northwest Airlines is on static display outside the company’s chalet.
The NextGen version of the aircraft, which is available in sizes from 70 to 100 seats, will become the standard production model over the next year, says Steve Ridolfi, president of Bombardier Regional Aircraft. The company is bringing forward improvements made to the CRJ series in its newest CRJ1000 to the other members of the family, he says.
It wanted to get the improvements into current CRJ models well before the first CRJ1000 is scheduled to be delivered in the final quarter of 2009.
Delivered
The main NextGen improvements are a 4% reduction in fuel burn, a decrease in maintenance costs of up to 9% and a reduction in the empty weight of the aircraft, explains Rod Williams, vice-president commercial operations.
Bombardier has been working with customers for about a year on the NextGen, which costs from $250,000 to $300,000 more per aircraft than the current CRJ models. The sticker prices of the family are: CRJ700 NextGen $31.8 million; CRJ900 NextGen $36.3 million; and CRJ1000 NextGen $41 million.
The development of NextGen, revealed two weeks before Paris, was as much a “customer pull” as a Bombardier idea, says Ridolfi. The company is studying the business case of offering a NextGen retrofit kit for carriers to upgrade their existing CRJs.
First export order for Kamov Ka-62
India has announced an order for 200 Ka-62 transport helicopters. The aircraft are to be delivered to the Indian Army and Air Force from 2012, and will replace some of the services’ ageing Mi-8 ‘Hip’ transports.
The Ka-62, which has yet to fly is a medium weight helicopter originally developed during the late 1980s.
Source: Flight Daily News
