Dubai Air Show a successful outing for Bombardier

Dubai, Nov 22 (IANS/WAM) Bombardier Aerospace Friday concluded a successful week at the 2013 Dubai Air Show, having announced firm orders and commitments for up to 38 aircraft valued at up to $2.01 billion.

With three of its industry-leading business and commercial aircraft on static display, as well as the CSeries aircraft's full-scale passenger cabin and cockpit demonstrator, the air show was an excellent opportunity for the company to showcase a selection of its innovative aircraft and broad range of services to clients and prospects in the Middle East and Africa.

Throughout the event, executives from Bombardier Commercial Aircraft were joined by customers for a series of announcements related to its Q400 NextGen and CSeries aircraft programmes.

Air Cote d'Ivoire, Palma Holding Limited, Nok Air and Abu Dhabi Aviation signed firm orders and commitments for up to 22 Q400 NextGen turboprops, and Bombardier also confirmed that Nok Air was the launch customer for an extra capacity seating option that will allow the Q400 NextGen aircraft to accommodate up to 86 passengers.

Alongside representatives from the governments of Canada and Northern Ireland, Bombardier also announced that Iraqi Airways signed a letter of intent for up to 16 CS300 aircraft, bringing the total number of orders and commitments for CSeries aircraft to 419.

Additionally, Boeing announced Nov 18 that it had selected Bombardier's Challenger 605 business jet as the platform for its Maritime Surveillance Aircraft programme on the basis of, among others, the aircraft's payload capacity, range and speed.

As part of its ongoing commitment to customer service, Bombardier further expanded its support services in Africa by welcoming Ethiopian Airlines as an authorised service facility (ASF) for commercial aircraft on the continent.

The airline can now perform line and heavy maintenance on Q400 and Q400 NextGen turboprop aircraft under the Bombardier ASF banner, and its maintenance facility joins a worldwide network of more than 60 facilities authorised to work on Bombardier commercial and business aircraft.

--IANS/WAM

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