BOMBARDIER launched a new 110 to 130-seat passenger jet, the CSeries, yesterday in a Canadian challenge to the supremacy of Airbus and Boeing in the airliner market.
Announcing the long-awaited launch on the eve of the Farnborough air show, the Canadian company said it had selected Mirabel near Montreal as the site to assemble the planes, which will enter service in 2013. The wings will be built in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Launch customer Lufthansa has provisionally ordered 30 planes with an option for 30 more, Bombardier said. The CSeries will sell for US$46.7 million. Bombardier was waiting for 50-100 orders before launching the aircraft.
"We are engaged in active and very promising discussions with a number of airlines worldwide," Chief Executive Pierre Baudouin said.
The CSeries aircraft marks a branching-out from Bombardier's current lines of regional jets and turboprops, which seat 100 or 80 passengers respectively.
The CSeries will compete with the single-aisle Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 jets.