Whatever Bombardier s goal was for launching the CSeries programme nearly a decade ago, it certainly was not to shepherd both the CS100 and CS300 into service before handing them over as relatively mature products, free, to Airbus.

Airbus on 19 October kicked off the A330neo's three-aircraft 1,400h flight-test programme which should lead to certification and first deliveries of the initial -900 variant in the middle of 2018.

Compiling Flight International s annual World Airliner Directory the first part of which appears in our 24-30 October issue is often a repetitive task.