Bombardier To Rival Commercial Aviation Giants

When thinking airliners usually only two names come to mind, Airbus and Boeing. All that may be about to change however with a third competitor ready to join in the flight for airliner sales.

Bombardier of Canada are looking at entering where few would dare to tread in a market that has been dominated by Boeing and Airbus for at least two decades. The CSeries - the aircraft Bombardier hope to challenge Airbus and Boeing with will be in direct competition with the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320 - both highly respected and renowned aircraft.

This years Farnborough Airshow will see Bombadier display their new aircraft concept and measure potential interest amongst airlines. However the timing could not have been worse with most airlines looking to cut-back on aircraft rather than purchase new ones with the exception of airlines from the Gulf region that remain strong. There can be no doubting that Airbus and Boeing will be keeping one eye on Bombardier during the couse of this years airshow.

The Bombadier offering is bold with the aircraft constructed from an exotic cocktail of materials such as an aluminum-lithium alloy fuselage and carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic composite wing and tail. Not only that but the engines used on the aircraft would be the geared turbofan (GTF) variant from Pratt & Whitney that is touted as giving 12% more fuel efficiency that the current engines used.

The new aircraft would most likely enter service in 2013 and seems like it would fit into a gap left by Boeing and Airbus offerings. It will be interesting to see the attention the concept draws at Farnborough and to follow the development of this exciting new aircraft.

Published by: Jon Vickery