Oct 16 (Reuters) - Canada's Bombardier Inc BBDb.TO said on Tuesday it had delivered 31 business jets in the third quarter, meeting more than 70 percent of its delivery target of 135 jets for the year.
The company, which is in the middle of a five-year turnaround plan through 2020, said the backlog in its business jet unit rose to about $14.3 billion from $14.1 billion in the quarter.
Separately, Bombardier said NetJets Inc, the luxury plane unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) Inc BRKa.N , will take its first delivery of Global 7500 ultra-long-range business jet in 2021.
NetJets had placed a firm order for 50 Global business jets in 2011, with options for an additional 70 jets. The firm order included 20 Global 7500 and Global 8000 jets.
Global 7500, which was certified by Canadian regulators last month, is crucial to Bombardier's turnaround efforts after spiraling investments in its CSeries jetliner led to a cash crunch in 2015.
The company sold a majority stake in its CSeries commercial jetliner program to Europe's Airbus AIR.PA last year.
Bombardier is slated to report its third quarter results on Nov. 8.