Dewar is in Nassau in the Bahamas at the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) Airline Leaders Forum, but he insisted his good mood is not due to the pristine Bahamian weather but to recent progress in the restarted CSeries flight test program.
“The summer was very challenging,” he conceded to ATW. “We got the engine [issue that grounded the program] resolved and that makes me smile that we were able to get back in flight testing [in September]. Also, now we see the [data] results from [more than 450 hours of] flight testing, which are very satisfying … All that makes us confident.”
As of Thursday, the third of four CS100 flight test aircraft has reentered the program, according to Dewar. Eventually five CS100 flight test aircraft will be flying. Despite the grounding, Bombardier has completed “block one” of a “three block” flight test program for the CS100 and is “well into the second block,” Dewar said.
In addition, the first CS300 flight test aircraft, labeled FTV7, is “preparing to be handed over to the flight test program later this year” and start flight testing in early 2015, Dewar said, noting that the larger derivative of the Bombardier narrowbody has greatly benefited from lessons learned on the CS100. There will be two CS300 flight test aircraft in the program.
“We do see a lot demand for the aircraft,” Dewar said, adding it is “extremely well suited” to operate in Latin America. Bombardier, which recently took a CSeries aircraft to Indianapolis and Dallas for sales demonstrations, is planning a CSeries sales tour in Latin America. “We’ll be coming” to Latin America with a CSeries, Dewar said. “I can’t be specific right now on when that will be.”
Firm orders for the CSeries currently stand at 243 aircraft.
(Aaron Karp - ATWOnline News)
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