Bombardier could get certification for its CS100 airliner as soon as the end of the week according to Bloomberg.
Quoting unnamed sources, Bloomberg said Transport Canada is ready to sign off on the smallest version of the CSeries, which has been costly for the company both financially and in terms of its reputation.
The aircraft development cost Bombardier $5.4 billion and the company is afloat because of $2.5 billion in bailouts and share purchases from its home province of Quebec.
However, the aircraft, even though it’s three years late, is apparently as good as Bombardier had hoped it would be and more and it does hit the 100-150-passenger market at a time when there are few new certified designs to fill that niche. It’s been speculated that Bombardier is really only one major order away from turning the biggest risk in its history into its biggest win.
Bombardier has a relatively short window to capitalize on its certification success. All major airframers and a few new ones (COMAC, of China and Mitsubishi) are all developing highly efficient short-haul platforms but none will be on the market for at least two years.
Assuming TC does deliver certification this week, the U.S. FAA and Europe’s EASA are expected to follow suit shortly. The biggest version of the aircraft, the CS300, is expected to be certified in about six months.
Entry into service is planned in early 2016 with Swiss Air.