Supplier Starts Construction of Facility to Manufacture CSeries Aircraft Fuselage

Construction of the facility that will build the fuselage for the all-new Bombardier CSeries mainline commercial jetliner has begun.  The event – another milestone in Bombardier’s progress toward a 2013 entry-into-service for the CSeries aircraft – was marked with a foundation stone-laying ceremony today at the site in Shenyang, China.

The 21,000 m² (226,042 ft²) facility will be operated by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC), a subsidiary of the state-owned aviation industrial entity, China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC).   SAC is a key supplier in the Bombardier CSeries aircraft program.

Pierre Beaudoin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier Inc. took part in the ceremony at the Shenyang National Aviation and High Technology Industrial Base in Dongling District.

“This ceremony marks a new milestone in the strategic cooperation between Shenyang, AVIC, China and Bombardier,” said Mr. Beaudoin. “Bombardier believes in the China aviation industry and is encouraged to see the further development of the Shenyang National Aviation and High Technology Industrial Base as a center of design and manufacturing excellence.”

SAC delivered the first test article in the CSeries aircraft program – a fuselage test barrel – to Bombardier’s Saint-Laurent, Québec site on August 19, 2009. The test barrel is being used to demonstrate manufacturing and engineering structural concepts before the CSeries aircraft’s final design phase begins later this year.  It has already been subjected to 40,000 simulated flight cycles of testing.

The Shenyang facility joins two other new CSeries aircraft installations that are already under construction. In September 2009, Bombardier celebrated the groundbreaking of the first CSeries aircraft building in Québec, Canada. Located in Mirabel, 45 minutes north of Montréal, the Complete Integrated Aircraft Systems Test Area (CIASTA) will test aircraft systems for reliability and functionality one year before the first prototype aircraft flies. In November 2009, construction got under way on the company’s new state-of-the-art aircraft wing manufacturing and assembly facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  

Since launching the CSeries family of aircraft at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2008, Bombardier has recorded firm orders for a total of 90 CSeries aircraft which includes an order from Republic Airways for 40 CS300 aircraft, another from Deutsche Lufthansa AG for 30 CS100 aircraft, and one from Lease Corporation International Group for 17 CS300 and three CS100 aircraft. The program has also booked options for an additional 90 CSeries aircraft.

The CSeries aircraft which are optimized for the longer range, single-aisle 100- to 149-seat market will deliver the lowest operating costs in their class, exceptional operational flexibility, widebody comfort and an unmatched environmental scorecard.