Lufthansa CityLine is in negotiations with Bombardier over a "double-digit" order for the 70-seat Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) Series 700, but Fairchild Dornier is targeting the airline as a potential launch customer for its proposed rival regional jet.
CityLine has just taken delivery of its 31st 50-seat CRJ - the 200th delivered - and will soon decide whether to convert into firm orders three options due in 1999. Karl-Heinz Kopfle, joint managing director of Lufthansa's regional subsidiary, says that the carrier has "very high interest" in the CRJ-700, noting that the regional airline has worked closely with Bombardier on development of the new aircraft through its membership of the CRJ-700 advisory panel.
Kopfle says that the recent unveiling by Bombardier of a CRJ-700 cabin interior mock-up is "a very important milestone in our process-now we can enter into the final part of the decision-making process". Kopfle will not be specific as to how many CRJ-700s might be ordered, but expects the eventual number to be "double-digit".
Fairchild Dornier, however, is briefing Lufthansa, along with Crossair, on its proposed 70- to 90-seat 728JET/928JET (Flight International, 15-21 October, P5). Company sources say that talks with the two carriers will determine the final "outer mould line" of the design, which it hopes will be firmed up by April 1998.
Meanwhile, Aero International (Regional) (AI(R)) is understood to have made overtures to Fairchild Dornier as well as Embraer about joining on the Air Jet 70 programme, amid mounting internal pressure to get the delayed project into development before competing aircraft take the early, all-important, launch orders.
Both offers appear to have failed. A source close to the discussions says that the Embraer talks foundered because of the "wrong chemistry", while efforts to bring Fairchild Dornier into the team failed because of the American-German company's refusal to relinquish design authority over its own 70- to 90-seater proposal.
AI(R) nevertheless remains bullish about the Air Jet project, saying that it is "definitely not dead". Talks are still in progress with CASA and Saab Aircraft in Europe, as well as partners in "the Far East and South Korea" with the aim of tying up a deal by the end of the year.
Source: Flight International
