Aircraft

Bombardier sees a strong requirement for the conversion of CRJ200s to corporate shuttles, as some US carriers offload 50-seat regional jets in the face of high fuel prices.

There is a "big market in terms of converting those CRJ200s into corporate shuttles because you can have an aircraft that is half the price of a new one," said Bombardier senior VP and CFO Pierre Alary yesterday during an investors conference.

Bombardier's introduction of the Challenger 850 - the corporate shuttle version of the CRJ200 - effectively prolonged the life of its CRJ200 production line after demand for the 50-seat jets dried up.

However, several companies are now offering corporate-configured CRJ200s to clients. A new business called Project Phoenix has been acquiring surplus examples of the CRJ200 and turning them into utilitarian large-cabin business aircraft.

Alary does not address these projects specifically. He says, however, that the corporate shuttle configuration "is a very, very practical one".

The Bombardier executive also points out that countries "like Africa, Russia and emerging countries are taking some" of the CRJ200s on the market.

He adds: "If you look at what happened when a number of those aircraft were parked two or three years ago, we had up to 140 that had been parked, and over an 18 month period effectively all were put back on the market [with] about 15 to 20 left."