JANUARY 19, 2010, 7:05 A.M. ET.Bombardier: CSeries Production Seen In Latter Half Of 2013

DUBLIN (Dow Jones)--Production of Bombardier Inc.'s (BBD.B.T) CSeries mainline jet is on track for "the latter half of 2013," the president of the Canadian company's commercial aircraft unit, Gary Scott, said Tuesday. Bombardier has a CSeries contract with Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) for 30 firm orders and 30 options, and with Lease Corp. International Ltd. for 20 firm orders and 20 options, and expects another CSeries order in next fiscal year.

"We are still in advanced discussions with some customers," he said. "We're still optimstic for the first half of next fiscal year ... I'd be surprised if we don't announce another order in the first half of next year."

"We have a firm commitment to their (Lufthansa's) delivery date as we do with LCI," Scott said, but wouldn't give the actual delivery timeline due to commercial and competitive reasons.

LCI is a private aircraft leasing company that owns and leases planes to major airlines, such as Singapore Airlines Ltd. (C6L.SG), British Airways PLC (BAY.LN), Air France-KLM (AF.FR) and Virgin Atlantic.

"The interest in our (CSeries) airplane has remained extremely high," Scott told an aerospace conference in Dublin, adding that the CSeries is planned to be airborne for testing in 2012--or the year before actual commercial production.

"The Canadian government has said it will be there to support the CSeries," Scott said. "We believe they have adequate resources to support our needs, but they don't have unlimited resources."

"We're going through one of the worst times," he added. "It's a very bad cycle for the world economy ... We're all struggling because our customers are bleeding and in no position to buy airplanes."
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The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION

Bombardier's CSeries advantage threatened with Airbus looking at new engines
By: Ross Marowits, THE CANADIAN PRESS

14/01/2010 6:28 PM | Comments: 0
Print E–mail Share ThisReport Error MONTREAL - Bombardier's (TSX:BBD.B) CSeries fuel efficiency advantage could be threatened as Airbus says it will decide this year whether to put new engines on its A320s.

Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said the world's largest aircraft manufacturer will continue this year with its investments to upgrade its popular narrow-body jets.

"We intend to decide this year on a possible re-engining of the A320. All this to keep our bread & butter program selling and flying well into the next decade," he said at a briefing in Seville, Spain.

Boeing is also expected to adopt new engines for its single-aisle 737s.

Both manufacturing giants are considering several engines types that would deliver about 15 per cent fuel savings to defend their business from Bombardier and China's Comac C919.

Airbus is in talks with Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce and CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aviation and France's Snecma. Preferred designs could be selected as early as the end of March.