Regional aircraft manufacturers have had a strong nine months, with orders already ahead of the total placed during the whole of last year.
Embraer was the market leader during the third quarter in sales terms, booking 57 orders, but it was rival Bombardier that was ahead in output delivering 33 CRJ and QSeries aircraft.
Despite a poor quarter three order performance with just 12 net sales, the Canadian manufacturer leads the way for the full nine months of 2007 with 187 orders and 90 deliveries, against 94 and 85 for Embraer and 88 and 24 for ATR.
The CRJ series has had a strong nine months with 109 net orders being placed, against 78 for its Dash 8 QSeries. Significantly output of Bombardier’s turboprops was higher than its jet models for the first time since the regional jet mania era began in the 1990s.
Bombardier delivered 47 QSeries and 43 CRJs during the first nine months, including 16 and 17 respectively, during its FY2008 quarter three.
Bombardier says that strong demand for the CRJ will see it increase planned production during its FY2009 from the previously planned 57 to 64 aircraft.
ATR's turboprop family has outperformed its rival, the QSeries, with 88 orders this year. The manufacturer is confident it will beat its record of 90 orders set in 2005. The airframer, which is ramping up output to over 80 a year, has already matched its 2006 full-year deliveries (24 aircraft), during the first nine months of 2007.
The regional backlog has grown beyond 900 units (from 892 at mid-year), with the bulk (52%) held by Embraer. Bombardier's share has declined slightly from 30% at mid-year to 27%. The turboprop ATR and QSeries models have maintained their overall position with a third of the overall backlog.
Source: Flight International
