Bombardier delayed the first flight of its CSeries jet for a third time on Wednesday, promising the flight "in the coming weeks" instead of July, a move likely to rattle airlines that have ordered the new plane.
"This might make people a bit jittery... This is a new market for them. A lot depends upon the confidence of customers," said aviation industry expert Richard Aboulafia, a vice-president at consulting firm Teal Group.
The delay casts new doubt on Bombardier's ambitious mid-2014 entry-into-service target for the CSeries. Aboulafia expects entry-into-service sometime in the first half of 2015.
The first flight will be the culmination of a five-year, USD$3.4 billion development programme for the CSeries.
Bombardier hopes eventually to corner 50 percent of the lucrative 100- to 149-seat airliner segment with the plane.
The Montreal-based company has announced 177 firm CSeries orders, far short of its target of at least 300 firm orders by the middle of next year. It failed to firm up new CSeries business last month at the Paris Air Show, which saw splashy news and big orders from its competitors.
(Airwise)
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