Aircraft

By Murdo Morrison in Montreal

Bombardier will decide this year either to step up its CSeries programme or direct resources instead to developing a “CRJ900X” stretch version of the 86-seat CRJ900 for the 90-100-seat market.

According to a senior source in the company, the board is unlikely to sanction investment to take both projects forward simultaneously. “They are going to have to decide,” says the source.

Bombardier Aerospace’s vice president strategy and business development Michael McAdoo says the two projects are “not mutually exclusive...but you have to ask yourself if in terms of resources we’d want to do both.”

He adds: “The two decisions will be taken separately and together. We don’t have unlimited technical and financial resources.”

It would be “a mistake to put a deadline” on any board decision, says McAdoo. “There are so many variables that can change rapidly.”

A larger wing and more powerful General Electric CF34-8s are being studied for the CRJ900X. As are larger passenger windows.