Company Hopes New Narrow-Body Jet Will Enter Service In 2015 As Now Planned

This coming year will be pivotal for Bombardier's CSeries airplane, which has been an on-again, off-again project for the past 17 years. The new narrow-body airliner is scheduled to begin revenue service in 2015, but there is no guarantee that the plane will be carrying passengers this year, according to some analysts.

The Financial Post reports that much of the flexibility in Bombardier's timeline for getting the CSeries airplane into the hands of customers was lost when one of the flight test airplanes suffered an engine failure during a ground run. That incident halted flight testing of the airplanes for most of the summer, and means any more problems could push the entry into service beyond 2015, according to Scotiabank analyst Turan Quettawala.

Still, Bombardier's management is holding firm to the 2015 entry into service. CEO Pierre Beaudoin has consistently told analysts that he is "very confident" in the current timeline.

FMI: www.bombardier.com