Bombardier C-Series on hold, maybe cancelled

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http://www.luxist.com/entry/1234000840064694

Bombardier Puts C-Series Aircraft Plans On Hold
US Carriers' Woes To Blame

After closer inspection, Bombardier Inc. has decided now might not be the best time to bring a new commercial airliner to market in the United States.

Officially, the company has put off its decision to go ahead with production of its new C-Series aircraft -- to be produced in 110- and 130- seat versions -- because it has "some important customer meetings" coming up and "we want to present to our board all the information necessary" to make a decision, according to a company spokesman.

One of those customers, according to The Wall Street Journal, is beleaguered Northwest Airlines. Bombardier was looking closely at Northwest as a candidate for the C-Series, according to Bombardier spokesman John Paul Macdonald, as Northwest's large fleet of DC-9s will be ready to be taken out of service around 2010 -- right around the time deliveries of the similar-sized C-Series would begin.

However, Northwest's recent bankruptcy, as well as the overall financial plight of the US airline industry, is "making it a little more difficult and requires a bit more time for us in discussions" with planned customers for the new C-Series, said MacDonald.

The C-Series is seen as an important aircraft for Bombardier, as it would elevate the company beyond the corporate-and-regional-jet markets and into the commercial airliner realm currently dominated by Boeing and Airbus.

As was reported earlier this year by Aero-News, employees in the manufacturer's Montreal plant were even willing to take large labor concessions in order to land work on the new jet. The company previously stated it would not announce a final production point for the jet -- possible candidates include Montreal, Toronto, and Ireland -- until customers had been secured.

Although a final decision to go ahead with the $2 billion project has been delayed, company officials maintain development and product evaluation work will continue on the C-Series.

"The reception is still enthusiastic" for the C-Series among potential customers, Macdonald said.

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18 years 6 months

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:eek:

To be expected though

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21 years

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As much as I think the C-Series came far too late after the Embraer 170, and I cant visualise many realistic candidates for its purchase, I do hope this project can secure some orders after this "suspension". Bombardier in Belfast do lots of good work and are one of the biggest employers in the region, so the C-Series is more than likely going to be benificial to Northern Ireland and the UK.

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24 years 2 months

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Would it be possible for them to jumpstart the Do-728 project? Its design is largely complete and at the time was ready to start testing. Would give them a plane in the 70-130 seats market a lot faster, and quite possibly cheaper, then designing a new plane from scratch. Both LH and KL/AF showed a lot of interest in the Dornier. It should be possible to remanufacture the jigs and tools. If they can make them for a potential C-series (or whatever type will follow), why not a re-badged Dornier?

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19 years 1 month

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Bombardier screwed up years ago by choosing to stretch the original CRJ into the 705 and 900 models instread of creating a new line. Now they lost momentum just at the time tha Embraer is geting beter and beter reviews for its 170/190 familily.. I doubt the C-Series will ever see the light of day, one option would be to join in on the RRJ aircraft program, using cheap russian labour to offer a price challenge to Embraer... otherwise they will be left with no future future in this marketplace...

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Regards

Hammer

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20 years 10 months

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I agree, the -700 and -900 were deadends and kept them from pursuing a proper airframe. The C-Series came in WAY too late and by the time it does (or would have) come online the 70-110 seat market will be pretty saturated with Embraers. With this news following their recent announcement of the CRJ-100/200 production stopping this hasn't turned out to be a good year for Bombardier.

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Are they stopping the CRJ200? :eek:

I thought it was still receiving orders and was not dead just yet, I reckon it would of received more European orders if it had STOL, now theres an idea for a CRJ205.

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18 years 8 months

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What WAS the C-series

What was the C-series supposed to be like?

I see it described as 5 abreast, cabin width 11´4´´, "widest in the class".

Some computing translates this to 345 cm, right?

DC-9 is 313 cm... and I think B737 is 350 cm inside. DC-8 and VC-10 are slightly narrower.

Sounds that C-series would be a cramped 6-abreast plane - not a spacious 5-abreast one!

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20 years 10 months

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Are they stopping the CRJ200? :eek:

I thought it was still receiving orders and was not dead just yet, I reckon it would of received more European orders if it had STOL, now theres an idea for a CRJ205.

If you look online there were a bunch of articles this last week announcing that Bombardier was stopping production of their 50-seat jets.

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20 years 10 months

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Sounds that C-series would be a cramped 6-abreast plane - not a spacious 5-abreast one!

I couldn't find the internal dimension on their website but the cross section picture clearly shows a 4 abreast for first class and 5 abreast for economy.

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19 years 5 months

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Are they stopping the CRJ200? :eek:

Bombardier say its temporary but more than likely it will be permanent