Bombardier has refuted speculation that it may seek to grow the CSeries family into the 150-seater market.
"We're extremely happy with where we've targeted" the 110-seat and 130-seat CSeries family, says Gary Scott, president, aircraft services and new commercial aircraft programmes at the Canadian airframer.
Scott told the SpeedNews commercial aviation industry suppliers conference in Los Angeles: "If I've just told you we've optimised on the lower end of that 100-150 seat range, and then tell you at the same time that we're also preparing a 150-seater it would just undermine those statements."
He added that Bombardier "is happy to leave the 150-seat market to the big guys". Bombardier's board of directors granted Scott authority to begin offering the CSeries jet to potential customers on 22 February.
Bombardier plans to formally launch the Pratt & Whitney GTF geared turbofan-powered twinjet after receiving commitments from "one or two" quality customers, Scott said, with deliveries targeted to start in 2013. Northwest Airlines - which has been a long-running leading candidate to launch the CSeries - said last week that it continues to evaluate the twinjet as a possible replacement for its McDonnell Douglas DC-9 fleet.
Source: Flight International
