Bombardier will showcase its new Atmosphere cabin on a CRJ900 painted in Delta Air Lines' colours at the Farnborough air show next month.
The move comes as Bombardier seeks to renew its focus on regional aircraft following a deal to grant Airbus majority ownership of its CSeries programme.
The Montreal-based manufacturer last fall announced it was developing the new Atmosphere interior for its line of CRJs as part of an effort to make the aircraft more appealing to airlines and their customers.
Although Bombardier has shown airlines a mock-up of the new cabin, it will unveil the complete product on an aircraft for the first time at Farnborough.
Perhaps most notably, the Atmosphere cabin's overheads bins are significantly larger than bins on previous CRJs.
Bins in first class will be 50% larger, Bombardier says. Those gains are possible because, unlike previous CRJs, aircraft with the Atmosphere cabin have bins on only one side of the first-class cabin, which has a one-by-two seat layout.
Those bins are deeper, extending over the two seats on the aircraft's right side, the company says.
Bins in economy class are also 40% larger than previously, it adds.
The Atmosphere cabin also has a larger entranceway, provides more "shoulder space" and includes a wheelchair-accessible lavatory with up to 90% more floor space than the previous layout, says Bombardier.
It also has translucent cabin dividers, LED lights and in-seat electric power,
The aircraft on display at the Farnborough air show will be among 20 CRJ900s recently ordered by Delta, which will be the first airline to receive an Atmosphere-equipped CRJ.
Delta will receive the first of those aircraft this year, with all 20 aircraft scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2020.
Delta's regional partners will operate the aircraft, but Delta has not specified which carrier.
American Airlines also holds orders for 15 CRJ900s equipped with Atmosphere cabins; those deliveries are scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2019, Bombardier has said.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
