An undisclosed airline based in the Americas has signed a letter of intent to purchase 12 Bombardier CS100 aircraft, with options for another 18.
The firm orders are valued at about $870 million at list prices, says Bombardier, adding that the order could increase to $2.08 billion if the options are converted. The customer had requested to remain undisclosed, it adds.
"This customer selected the CS100 jetliners based on the flexibility and superior operational efficiencies offered only by the CSeries aircraft family," says Bombardier Commercial Aircraft president Mike Arcamone.
Bombardier says it now has 14 customers, nine of which have firm orders, for the CSeries programme. As of 30 September, the airframer had orders and commitments for 352 CSeries aircraft, including 138 firm orders.
First flight of the CSeries was earlier delayed to end-June 2013, and Bombardier says that the wings of the first CSeries flight test vehicle, FTV-1, are being mated to the fuselage at Bombardier's facility in Mirabel, Quebec. Assembly of the CSeries complete airframe static test (CAST) article is complete, says Bombardier, adding that the instrumentation and loading system is being finalised for the start of airframe tests in January.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
