Bombardier has blinked in the increasingly hostile battle for dominance of the regional aircraft market in the 21st century. For the first time since the Canadian company revolutionised regional air transport with the original 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet in 1992, it has lost the initiative and is in danger of being outflanked by up and coming newcomers Embraer and Fairchild.
The company is being challenged on two fronts by new 37/44-seat jets at the lower end of the regional market and planned new 70/90-seat aircraft families at the top end. Aside from the 50/70-seat CRJ-200/700 and the much larger and still-to-be launched BRJ-X, there is little in the Bombardier arsenal to counter the assault.
Accordingly, the Embraer RJ-135 and Fairchild 328JET/428JET are racking up increasingly impressive sales, while Lufthansa and Crossair have launched the 728JET and ERJ-170/190 developments respectively. Both the blue chip European carriers made it clear that a clear growth path from 70 to 90 seats was central to their decision making.
Bombardier, as a result, has been forced to adjust its thinking and look for ways to plug the holes in its product line. The stretched CRJ-900 study represents a bold and risky move by Bombardier to leapfrog back into pole position at the one end of the market, while a possible sub-50-seat version of the CRJ-200 could shore up sales at the other end.
Bold, because the CRJ-900 could be on the market by 2002, between one and two years ahead of the 928JET and ERJ-190 on present schedules. It would benefit from leveraging the large investment already sunk into the CRJ-700.
Risky, because it would be the smallest four-abreast cabin cross section in a market where rivals will argue that the CRJ-900 is a stretch too far when compared against their own families of aircraft.
Whether the BRJ-X ever makes it off the drawing board now looks somewhat doubtful. Axeing the BRJ-X-90 and repositioning the jet as a 100- to 120-seater would finally cut its already tenuous lifeline to the regional market. This would leave the aircraft alone facing the might of the Airbus A318 and the Boeing 737 and 717 market heavyweights.
With Bombardier's hands now full fending off rivals Embraer and Fairchild, few would relish a fight on both fronts by also taking on Airbus or Boeing.
Source: Flight International
