First flight of the CRJ1000, the final member of Bombardier’s regional jet family, has slipped to “later this year,” the airframer tells Flight.
Bombardier did not specify a cause of the delay or if there was any impact on the late 2009 entry into service for the 100-seat aircraft.
At the Farnborough air show in July, Bombardier was quoted as saying the flight flight of C-FRJX, the first CRJ1000, would occur “very soon.”
Bombardier had previously maintained that the first flight would take place by the end of this summer.
The aircraft, the longest member of the CRJ family, is a 128-foot 4.7-inch stretch of the original 50-seat CRJ200 aircraft.
Bombardier currently offers standard, extended range, and EuroLite variants of the CRJ1000 with ranges of 1,488 nm, 1,688 nm, and 1,030 nm respectively.
To date, the CRJ1000 has earned 39 firm orders from four customers – Adria Airways, Air France subsidiary Brit Air, Italian Operator Myair and an undisclosed operator.
Flightglobal.com and Air Transport Intelligence will be reporting on this more as the day progresses.
UPDATE 7:14 PM: Bombardier has backed away from its earlier statement and significantly clarified what was meant when it said first flight is “later this year.” The Canadian airframer now says that first flight of the CRJ1000 will take place within weeks.
“We are en route to an entry-into-service date during the fourth
quarter of 2009. We have undergone engine and systems tests. Following
completion of all systems tests and safety of flight certification,
we’ll get into taxi tests followed by first flight.”
Runway Girl has a full report.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.