Crunch Time For CSeries; Bombardier Races To Keep CSeries On Schedule

Bombardier has long kept silent about the progress made in its CSeries development program. Just weeks ahead of this year's Farnborough air show, though, the manufacturer is reassuring the industry that everything is fine and it will clear its hurdles. One of the manufacturer's biggest challenges still looms: strengthening the orderbook. The first new entrant into the traditional Airbus/Boeing narrowbody segment, Bombardier will be followed by the Russian Irkut MS-21 and Chinese Comac C919 in subsequent years. With CRJ sales dwindling, the CSeries is in a must-win situation. Bombardier says it plans to deliver the smaller version of the family, the 110-seat CS100, by the end of next year, followed by the 149-seat CS300 a year later. The aircraft will compete with the larger versions of Embraer's E-Jets—as well as the 737 MAX and the A320NEO families, which are planned to enter the market in 2016 and 2015, respectively ...