Bombardier Aerospace delivered the 1,000th CRJ to Delta Connection carrier Comair on 9 December 2003. With 1,449 firm order and 1,376 aircraft delivered as of 31 July 2006, the CRJ is the most successful regional aircraft programme in history.

The Bombardier CRJ900 Series is a minimum change stretch of the 70-seat Bombardier CRJ900, with a baseline capacity of 86 seat in single-class configuration. Designed to serve the 90-seat regional airline segment, it was officially launched by Bombardier Aerospace at the Farnborough Air Show on 24 July 2000. Assembly of the prototype CRJ900 began in the fall of 2000 at the Bombardier Aerospace facility at Montreal’s Mirabel International Airport. Bombardier’s Short unit Belfast delivered two plugs, measuring 90” and 62” (2.29m and 1.57m), which were mated to CRJ700 prototype serial number 1001 in September 200 to create prototype to crate prototype CRJ900 serial number 15991. This aircraft retained the original CRJ700 wings, engine, wheels and brakes.

The prototype CRJ900(registration C-FRJX) flew on 21 February 2001, less then seven months after the programme was formally launched. The flight lasted two-hours and fifty-four minutes and the aircraft reached an altitude of 35,000 feet (10,668m). Its primary role in the flight test programme was to explore the fight envelope and serve as the main platform for aircraft systems validation. The 70 foot (21.3m) fuselage for the first production Bombardier CRJ900, serial number 15001, arrived in Montreal in April 2001 from form Bombardier’s facilities in Belfast. The fuselage and wing were mated in early July at Bombardier’s new state-of –the art production facility at Mirabel.

This first all new CRJ900 regional jet (registration C-GRNH) flew for the first time on 20 October 2001 at Mirabel International Airport where Bombardier CRJ700 Series and CRJ900 aircraft are assembled. The aircraft flew to an altitude of 17,00 feet and a maximum airspeed of 250 knots (463 km/h) during the flight, which lasted two hours and three minutes. After initial test work, both CRJ900 test aircraft relocated to Bombardier Fight Test Centre in Wichita.

After e very successful , on time, on budget development programme, Transport Canada awarded the Bombardier CRJ900 regional jet its Aircraft Type Certificate on 9 September 2002, followed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on 31 October 2002 and Europe’s Joint Airworthiness on 18 December 2002.The first customer aircraft was delivered to Mesa Air Group on 30 January 2003 and entered revenue service in April 2003. With an overall length of 119 feet, four inches(36.37 m) and a wingspan of 81 feet, six inches (29.85 m), the Bombardier CRJ900 Series is 12 feet longer than the 70-seater Bombardier CRJ700 Series. As with CRJ705 Series shares the same redesigned winglets and modified aerodynamics that bestow it with excellent airfield performance.

The first customer aircraft was delivered to Mesa Air Group on 30 January 2003 and entered revenue service in April 2003. With an overall length of 119 feet, four inches(36.37 m) and a wingspan of 81 feet, six inches (29.85 m), the Bombardier CRJ900 Series is 12 feet longer than the 70-seater Bombardier CRJ700 Series. As with CRJ705 Series shares the same redesigned winglets and modified aerodynamics that bestow it with excellent airfield performance. Compared to the Bombardier CRJ700 Series, the Bombardier CRJ900 has up to seven per cent higher thrust General Electric CF34-9C5 engines, with a maximum thrust of 14,510 pounds (63.2 kN) with APR. other enhancements include strengthened main landing gear, upgrade wheels and brakes, strengthened wing, increased volume in the forward underfloor baggage hold, an additional underfloor baggage door and two additional overwing exit.

An optional service door may be placed at the starboard aft side of the fuselage to aircraft cleaning and galley replenishment while passenger are disembarking or embarking through the forward passenger door.

The Leading Edge Safety Training Programme

Demand for Bombardier’s pioneering Leading Edge Safety Training package has exceeded expectation, with 85 percent of new Bombardier business aircraft buyers enrolling their pilots in the innovative programme and a substantial number of existing operators opting to purchase the programme outright.

Introduced just recently, in February 2006, Leading Edge has broken new ground in corporate aviation by offering some of the finest safety training available in the industry. As the culmination of knowledge gathered through the widely acclaimed Bombardier Safety Standdown, Leading Edge features advanced skills and knowledge-based training for pilots, and makes it extremely easy for operators to either implement a new safety management programme or to refine an existing one. Leading Edge is offered at no-charge with the purchase of a new Bombardier business jet.

Development and delivered by respected educators, pilots and researchers ,two of the three Leading Edge modules focus on strategies to reduce the incidence of pilot error. ‘Unusual attitude’ or ‘upset training’ is provided in session for tow pilots at a time at the National Test Pilot School in Mojave, California, and AV Alert or pilot fatigue awareness and countermeasures is taught in a classroom setting. The third nodule consists of a Safety Management Resource kit for chief pilots and senior management which provides the foundation for any organization, no matter how small, to supplying materials and training that address that impact of several factors such as nutrition, hydration and hypoxia on decision making.

Bombardier’s Permanent Queretaro Facility

Bombardier Aerospace will start construction of its permanent manufacturing site to be located in the Querataro Aerospace Park Project and will begin this fall. Manufacturing operation at this new site are scheduled to start during the second half of 2007. Bombardier employees at the temporary Queratareo Facility are currently producing electrical harnesses and have already started manufacturing structural aircraft components.

These aircraft components include the Bombardier CRJ200/Challengeer 850 fuselage transferred from Bombardier’s Belfast facility and the Q400 aircraft fight control work package (rudder, elevator and horizontal stabilizer) transferred from a vendor. Bombardier Aerospace’s temporary facility, located in the EI Marques Industrial park, began operations in May 2006. Currently, 100 training programme are producing electrical harnesses and structural aircraft components.

By the end of 2007, employment is expected to reach 600 people.On 26 October 2005, Bombardier Aerospace announced the establishment of a world-class manufacturing facility in Querataro to components its existing sites.

Bombardier Transportation is also present in Mexico through its facility in Ciudad Sahagun, acquired in 1992. Since this acquisition, Bombardier Transportation has become the most important supplier of the Mexican transit market, as most of the rolling stock of the Mexican freight and transportation system were built in this facility.