TORONTO (AP) -- Bombardier Inc. has received a firm order from a U.S. company for 40 of its new CSeries jetliners, a deal valued at about US$3.06 billion.
The Montreal-based company said Thursday that Republic Airways Holdings of Indiana has also taken options for an additional 40 of the next-generation aircraft that will have a capacity of 100 to 140 passengers.
If all the options are exercised, the list price for the 80 planes sold to Republic would be US$6.34 billion.
The CSeries is critical to Bombardier Aerospace, which has spent years designing the advanced-technology jet.
The Republic order for 40 CS300s is the largest to date, eclipsing a firm order for 30 CS100 jets from the German airline company Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
Bombardier, the world's third-largest maker of civil commercial aircraft, secured its third firm order for the CSeries aircraft. It has now received firm orders for 90 CSeries which are scheduled to enter service in 2013.
The planes will be delivered to Republic Airways in the second quarter of 2015.
Republic Airways Holdings is an airline holding company that owns Chautauqua Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Lynx Aviation, Midwest Airlines, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America. It offers service to 118 cities in 44 states, Canada, Costa Rica, and Mexico under branded operations at Frontier, Midwest, and through services agreements with five major U.S. airlines.
