Bombardier insists more orders for its CSeries twin-jet programme are set to be disclosed shortly.

In a programme update during the European Regions Airline Association general assembly in Barcelona, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft president Gary Scott said the manufacturer was in talks with "dozens" of potential CSeries operators.

"I would say we're in advanced discussions with a handful of those," he says. "We anticipate that these discussions will turn into orders in the not-too-distant future."

He declines to elaborate on the timelines and says the orders could be from virtually any part of the world.

"The [CSeries] orders we've seen so far have been for 20, 30, 40 aircraft and these are representative of the kind of orders which are likely to continue," says Scott. "This is a new fleet type, so customers are looking at a significant number of aircraft."

He says the talks which are nearing completion are "not small orders". Most of them are for 10-12 aircraft.

Scott says Bombardier has just completed the programme's joint definition phase, showing it can deliver on the advertised specifications of the CSeries.

"Now we are into the detailed design phase, which will be completed early next year," he says.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news