Bellemare takes next CSeries step

CEO touts success as first CS300 delivered

MIRABEL, QUE. •Standing on a stage in a hanger filled with hundreds of

employees Monday, CEO Alain Bellemare officially handed over the first of its largest model in the CSeries jet family to Latvia’s airBaltic.

“A year ago we were standing here and a lot of people were thinking that this program would be shut down, that Bombardier would actually go down,” said Bellemare at the company plant, 50 kilometres north of Montreal. “What a turnaround.”

The Latvian national airline ordered 20 CS300 aircraft in 2012 and will make its first commercial flight on Dec. 14 between Riga and Amsterdam. Sold at US$85.7million, this is the largest plane built in Canada and seats between 130 and 150 people.

Based on the list price of the CS300, Bombardier values the 20-plane order at about US$506 million.

This comes just five months after Bombardier’s smaller 125-seat CS100 began flying with Swiss International Air Lines.

Bellemare says it’s too early to say whether it would be building an even larger CS500.

“Presently we are focusing on the delivery of the CS100 and CS300. We want efficient production and most importantly to support our clients in service in the best way possible,” he said.

“It’s a good moment right now to think about what we are going to do for the next airplane in 2018.”

Air Baltic Corp. AS placed its first order for the CS300 in 2012, and airBaltic CEO Martin Gauss says the company is satisfied with the choice it made between jets from Bombardier and competitors Airbus and Boeing.