Bombardier planes on order and in service in Africa under Ethiopian Airlines and other operators total to more than 40 aircraft
according to the international aircraft manufacturer.
The Bombardier aircraft that are in service in Africa include the Q400, Q400 NextGen, C series and CRJ family of airplanes.
Some of the forty Q400 and Q400 NextGen aircraft that are under order at this time are a part of the company’s designs to deliver a projected 180 business jets in 2012 according to Eric Martel, President of Bombardier Customer Services and Specialized and Amphibious Aircraft.
African operators are expected to take delivery of 550 more commercial aircraft in the 20-149 seat range over the next 20 years as per the Bombardier Commercial Aircraft Market Forecast.Much of the growth in the African market for Bombardier aircraft is expected to be in the 100-149 seat range followed by the 60-99 seat range.
Bombardier’s expansion strategy has been supported by new orders from operators in emerging markets such as Chinese in China Express, Indian SpiceJet, Polish Eurolot, Rwandese, RwandAir, and Indonesian Garuda Indonesia according to the manufacturer.
It is to be remembered that Ethiopian owns eight Bombardier Q-400 aircraft and has recently ordered an additional five upgraded, bigger baggage compartments, seven business class seats and two lavatories.
Ethiopian Airlines won the “The Annual Airline Reliability Performance Award” from Bombardier Aerospace, for the second time in a row.
The airline earned the highest total dispatch reliability to place first overall in the Q-400 product category for the African and Middle Eastern Region.
Source: Capital
