Bombardier whittles down paper mountain in CSeries approval bid

By Tim Hepher and Allison Lampert
RIGA/MONTREAL, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Canada's Bombardier
BBDb.TO is tackling a complex paper trail for regulators as it
draws close to approval for its CSeries jet, while pursuing a
global offensive to boost flagging sales.
Executives in Europe to showcase the jet to buyers including
Latvia's AirBaltic said safety certification would be completed
this year as planned.
Documenting software is an increasingly challenging step in
certifying high-tech modern jets, and one that can cause
last-minute delays, especially when outside suppliers are
involved.
"There are 18,000 certification documents that we had to do
and we are down to a few hundred," Dewar said.
"There is a formal approval process that is very rigorous,
but I am not whatsoever concerned about doing certification this
year," he said, adding the risk of delays in the schedule had
eased with the recent completion of flight testing.
Industry sources say software documentation, maintenance
details and releasing the flight manual are the tasks left
before the plane can be cleared for service.
Following two years of delays and doubts over the Canadian
company's ability to complete CSeries development, Bombardier is
on a sales offensive, having won a cash injection from Quebec
and brought the aircraft close to certification.
One of the perceived risks has been "whether we would have
enough liquidity to get us through, and since the recent
announcements that is behind us," said programme head Rob Dewar.
"Through a combination of those things we have seen
increased customer engagement and even North American customers
are heavily engaged, whereas before they were waiting and
seeing. That has changed," he told Reuters.
Bombardier is trying to win orders from United Airlines
UAL.N and JetBlue JBLU.O but faces competition from Embraer
EMBR3.SA as well as giants such as Airbus, which is trying to
persuade JetBlue to take larger A321s, industry sources say.
After a 14-month dearth of orders, Bombardier aims to boost
the number of firm purchases from 243 to 300 by the time the
110-130-seater enters service in first-half 2016.
"We are confident of being able to achieve the numbers we
have stated and capture orders in the months ahead," said Ryan
DeBrusk, sales vice president for Europe.
"There are a number of large carriers here in Europe where
discussions are quite strong," he said.
Addressing another priority area, Dewar said engine maker
Pratt & Whitney UTX.N was doing "very well" in ramping up
production and its engine was now "exactly" on specification.