Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
Bombardier anticipates additional orders for its CL-415 waterbomber this year, after breaking a year-long sales drought with the follow-on purchase of two aircraft by Italy's civil protection department. The company is confident that it will find customers for most of the 21 aircraft remaining from the first production batch of 50 by year-end, according to Amphibious Aircraft division president Tom Appleton.
"There is a good chance we will see them sold by the end of the year," he says. Italy has taken an option on four more CL-415s, which would take its total to 12 and complete replacement of its fleet of piston-powered CL-215s. The two new aircraft will be delivered in the second quarter, joining six CL-415s already in service. Italy began using the turboprop-powered aircraft in 1995.
Appleton says that additional orders are in the pipeline, from existing and new customers. Croatia has one CL-415, delivered in 1997, and has stated its intention to increase its fleet to six, at a rate of one aircraft a year. France and Quebec have already re-equipped with CL-415s, but CL-215 operators Greece and Ontario have yet to follow suit, he notes.
Bombardier has slowed production of the CL-415 from eight a year to four because it has unsold aircraft in its inventory, Appleton says. A decision on whether to proceed beyond the initial commitment to produce a batch of 50 aircraft will depend on finding customers, he says.
All of the orders in prospect are for firefighting aircraft, Appleton says, although the company continues to pursue special-mission applications for the CL-415. Most of the interest in a search and rescue version came from Asian countries, and has cooled with the region's economic downturn, he says, but talks with Sweden still continue.
Bombardier, meanwhile, has sold a used CL-215 to North Carolina's Department of the Environment and Natural Resources. The $4 million aircraft will be deployed on firefighting missions.
Source: Flight International
