Bombardier is seeing more interest in the CSeries as its flight and ground test programmes move towards the 200 hour milestone.
The airframer’s vice president marketing Philippe Poutissou told Flightglobal during the Dubai air show that it has seen more interest from both firm and potential customers in the type in recent weeks.
“We’re certainly seeing a lot more interest to come and visit Mirabel and see for themselves the process and see the build of the aircraft in progress,” he says.
Poutissou says that it now has the first production CS100 in place at Mirabel, and has also started receiving parts for the first CS300 which should enter assembly in the coming weeks.
In a video update Bombardier released on 16 November, vice president and general manager CSeries Rob Dewar says that it has completed over 190 hours of ground and flight testing that has validated the aircraft’s design.
Flight test vehicle one, the sole aircraft currently in testing, has continued to fly with its fly-by-wire system in ‘direct’ mode, and Dewar says that this will continue as it takes FTV1 to higher speed and altitudes before it starts flying in normal mode.
Normal mode, which ithe aircraft will usually fly in, provides protections that prevent the aircraft being taken beyond its design limits.
Despite the positive announcements on flight testing, new orders for the type have been slow.
Indonesia’s Lion Group is considering an order for 50 CS300s to allow it to open up new routes in Indonesia that cannot support its Airbus A320s and Boeing 737-900ERs.
Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al-Baker recently noted that while he was interested in the CSeries, he wants to ensure that the “programme is sustainable” before committing to an order for the type.
Poutissou would not be drawn on any discussions it has been holding with potential customers, but noted that it has been actively promoting it to Qatar and other airlines in the Middle East.
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Source: Cirium Dashboard
