After surrendering CSeries, Bombardier pushes regional plane revival

As Bombardier surrenders hopes of securing a top spot in commercial aviation with the sale of its money-losing CSeries jet program to Airbus, the Canadian company is now drawing up plans to breathe new life into its older regional planes. Bombardier is shoring up its loss-making regional jets and turboprops with a mixture of hard-sell, cost-cutting and outsourcing. It is also growing its line of business jets after a cash squeeze and production delays forced it to cede a majority stake in its high-tech CSeries which aims to break into the market for mainline jets dominated by Airbus and Boeing. The company will now “sharpen the focus” on its remaining commercial planes, with Bombardier Commercial Aircraft President Fred Cromer recently expanding the leadership team for the division which has combined orders in hand for just for over 100 planes, according to an internal memo. Bombardier also plans to showcase its CRJ regional jets, which recently had a cabin upgrade with more overhead bin space to appeal to business travellers, at the industry’s flagship Farnborough Air Show in July, an event it previously used to market the CSeries.<br/>