Bombardier has received all the fuselage structures for its CSeries static test aircraft and the fuselage is now in final assembly.

Robert Dewar, CSeries program vice-president and general manager says the next component, the wing, will be arriving at Bombardier "shortly".

"The fuselage is completely in Montreal now, and actually a number of the other sections are already being joined, and the other ones are in process," says Dewar.

Dewar says he is confident that the static test fuselage will be assembled before the end of September.

Bombardier is still expecting to receive components for the FTV-1 flight test vehicle in September, and it has already begun to receive "a number of components" for it, Dewar adds.

First flight is still scheduled to take place by the end of 2012, says Dewar.

He beleives Bombardier has a "really good shot" at meeting its entry-into-service date of December 2013 for the CS100, and December of 2014 for the CS300, and says that while the manufacturer does have challenges and risks surrounding that goal, it has been able to mitigate many of them.

"We don't have any major schedule issues on the programme," he says.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news