Bombardier successfully concludes C Series aircraft’s European route-proving program

Operating from SWISS’ base in Zurich, route-proving flights were conducted using airline’s typical operational procedures

The CS100 aircraft completed over 30 city-pair flights in European cities

Bombardier Commercial Aircraft announced today that it had reached another milestone with the successful completion of the CS100 aircraft’s European route-proving exercises. The program was conducted in the network of launch operator Swiss International Air Lines (“SWISS”) and included over 30 city-pair flights in European cities over a three-week long period.

During an event in Zurich, today, executive representatives from SWISS and Bombardier provided details and results about the route-proving program – which used a dedicated CS100 aircraft as Bombardier readies to deliver the first CS100 aircraft in June 2016 and SWISS readies for the aircraft’s entry-into-service (EIS).

“Considering that Bombardier inserted the CS100 aircraft into a number of the network operations we currently service, the route-proving program provided us with a real indication of how the C Series will operate in our route system when we take delivery of our first CS100 aircraft in June,” said Peter Wojahn, Chief Technical Officer, Swiss International Air Lines. “As the launch customer and the first airline to operate the C Series aircraft, we are very pleased and impressed with the results. It was equally exciting to see these first set of flights operating from our home-base in Zurich.”

“It was a special treat to be able to conclude the CS100 aircraft route-proving program from SWISS’ base and we’re equally pleased that it went extremely well. Testing important performance targets using real-life routes is an excellent indication of how reliable the aircraft will be when it flies in the SWISS network,” said Rob Dewar, Vice President, C Series Aircraft Program, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. “We’re also delighted that the flying public in Europe, who will ultimately be amongst the first in the world to fly aboard the aircraft, got a chance to see it operating in prime cities over the past few weeks, as we took the opportunity to show the aircraft to a few European airlines. They were excited to see the first all-new airliner built for the 100- to 150-seat market in close to three decades landing at their airports for the very first time.”

The route-proving aircraft is fully configured as a passenger jetliner and stops included European cities such a Brussels, Vienna, Budapest, Paris, Milan, Manchester and Warsaw. The CS100 aircraft conducted flights using typical airline flight routings and operational procedures but with no passengers on board. The flights provided data about the C Series aircraft’s performance in a typical airline schedule to and from different airports. Airfield performance, landings, airport turnarounds and on-ground operations are some of the important characteristics that were observed. The results are aligned with previous observations and confirm that the C Series aircraft is meeting or exceeding original targets.

The European route-proving program followed one conducted last year across North America that included more than 35 cities.