Bombardier turns the heat on Embraer with 100-seat regional jet plane

Montreal: Business jet manufacturer, Bombardier Inc, turned the heat on archrival Embraer this Monday when it said that its aerospace division will build a 100-seat regional jet which will be at least 15 per cent cheaper on trip cash operating costs than its "closest competitor." The new 100-seat CRJ1000 will be a follow-up to its previous CRJ700 and CRJ900 aircraft, and is scheduled to enter service in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The Montreal-based company also said that it has received 38 firm orders and 23 conditional orders and options for the new plane.

According to Bombardier, eight orders for the new aircraft have been placed by Air France subsidiary Brit Air, worth about $371 million or $768 million if options for another eight aircraft are exercised. My Way Airlines of Italy has agreed to convert 15 of 19 CRJ900 orders to CRJ1000 orders, increasing the value of that contract to US$857 million from $702 million.

Bombardier also said that an unnamed customer has placed a firm order for 15 CRJ1000s, with a conditional order for 15 more, in a deal potentially worth up to $1.5 billion.

According to Bombardier Aerospace president and COO Pierre Beaudoin, "The CRJ1000 regional jet combines the proven platform, reliability and flexible cabin configurations of its predecessors with its closest competitor having up to 15 per cent higher trip cash operating costs." Beaudoin's reference is presumably to the Embraer 190, which seats 98 to 106 passengers.

According to industry reports, the CRJ1000 will essentially be a stretched version of the CRJ900 and that the $300-million investment required for developing the new plane would be derived from the company's internal cash flows.