Bombardier CS100 aircraft makes successful first flight

Bombardier’s new CS100 jetliner successfully completed its first flight shortly before 10.00 on 16 September. SWISS, as a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, is the launch customer for the new airliner, with which it will be gradually replacing its present Avro RJ100s.

Following an intensive programme of on-the-ground testing designed to confirm that the aircraft was safe to fly from a structure and system standpoint systems, and after engine start-up, low-speed and high speed taxi trials Bombardier’s new CS100 has successfully performed its first flight. The aircraft took off from Mirabel Airport, located just outside of Montréal, Québec at Bombardier’s manufacturing facility, shortly before 10.00 local time.

Lufthansa subsidiary SWISS has ordered thirty CS100 aircraft, twenty of which will be replacing the carrier’s present Avro RJ100s on its European routes. “We offer Bombardier our warmest congratulations on this successful first flight,” says Peter Wojahn, Chief Technical Officer at SWISS. “It marks a further milestone in the CSeries programme, and underlines the quality with which Bombardier is developing its 100 per cent new single-aisle aircraft.”

“Our own preparations at SWISS for introducing the new CS100 to our fleet are also proceeding on schedule,” Wojahn continues. “SWISS’s fleet planning has always been geared to incorporating the latest technologies wherever these deliver tangible gains. And with the new CS100, we certainly remain at the cutting edge of all such development.”

Bombardier launched its CSeries family when Lufthansa signed the initial order for the CS100 at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2008. “Through its rigorous programme management and by learning the lessons from other successful ventures, Bombardier has developed its CSeries family of aircraft from project launch to first flight in just five years,” stresses Nico Buchholz, Lufthansa’s Head of Group Fleet Procurement & Management. “That process has also included modifying and enhancing the original aircraft designs in response to customer requests. And we’re correspondingly pleased throughout the Lufthansa Group with the project’s progress to date.”

With its state-of-the-art powerplant, systems and materials technologies, the new Bombardier CSeries sets new benchmarks in terms of its operating economics and its environmental credentials. The CS100 will consume up to 25% less fuel than the Avro RJ100s it replaces, and is also twice as quiet to the human ear.