[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]Bombardier Aerospace announced today that the development of the CSeries aircraft is making excellent progress as the program readies to transition to the flight test phase in order to achieve first flight by the end of June 2013.

“We are very pleased with the progress being made on the CSeries aircraft program and we are excited to open our facility and publicly show the world the advances and key milestones we have achieved as we get ready for first flight,” said Mike Arcamone, President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft.

“The CSeries aircraft program is making solid progress, having met a number of key milestones over the last few months. We are delighted that Pratt & Whitney recently achieved Transport Canada type certification of its first PurePower Geared Turbofan™ engine, the PW1500G engine that will power the CSeries aircraft, and we are now focusing on three key areas that will lead to our safety-of-flight permit: static airframe testing, building of flight test vehicles and on-the-ground testing,” added Mr. Arcamone.

Media and financial analysts will have the opportunity to get a first-hand look at the first CSeries flight test vehicle (FTV1), Complete Integrated Aircraft Systems Test Area (CIASTA) and various technology displays following today‘s program update at Bombardier’s CSeries final assembly facility in Mirabel, Quebec.