Aircraft

Bombardier appears poised to announce an order for more than one hundred CSeries aircraft in the near-term.

An industry source has indicated to CAO that a 100-plus aircraft order is forthcoming and that all launch customer positions for the CSeries have been allocated.

Bombardier could not provide immediate comment.

A separate industry source tells Flightglobal.com's sister premium affiliate ATI that the launch customer will not be Northwest Airlines. "They are still on hold due to the Delta merger but still interested."

Market acceptance of the CSeries will be solidified if this large order comes to fruition.

Bombardier launched the CSeries on 13 July with a letter of interest from Lufthansa for up to 60 aircraft.

Lufthansa, however, will not be the launch operator for the CSeries, but "will be among the first operators", said Lufthansa senior VP corporate fleet Nico Buchholz.

The CSeries is said to be attracting strong attention from Chinese carriers.