Canada's Bombardier Aerospace comes to the 2006 Air Show China in Zhuhai as the leading supplier of regional aircraft to airlines and government agencies in China. It is helping the country develop a network of regional airline markets. These markets link smaller communities with each other and with major hub airports.

Regional aircraft, ranging from 20 to 100 seats, generally fly routes that provide less traffic than the large jets flown by major airlines. But they also fly on larger-aircraft routes during times when passenger traffic is lower. This enables an airline to provide a higher frequency of flights with a higher percentage of filled seats at a lower operating cost than with larger jets.

"Bombardier is the only company that offers two distinct families of jet and turboprop aircraft with from 20 to 100 seats," says Steve Crowley, vice-president of sales in the Asia/Pacific for Bombardier Regional Aircraft. "Thus we can provide airlines in China with the right aircraft for the markets they serve. And each of our aircraft has the lowest operating costs in its class."

The jet family includes the 40- to 50-passenger Bombardier CRJ200, 70- to 78-passenger CRJ700, 75-passenger CRJ705 and 86- to 90-seat CRJ900. The turboprop family is comprised of the 37- to 39-passenger Bombardier Q200, 50- to 56-passenger Q300 and 68- to 78-passenger Q400.

The "Q" stands for Quiet - the aircraft are equipped with a Noise and Vibration Suppression system, or NVS, that makes the passenger cabin of a Q Series aircraft as quiet and free of vibration as a jet aircraft.

All aircraft in each of the CRJ and Q Series turboprop families carry the same type of rating and can be flown by the same cadre of pilots. This greatly reduces the cost of initial and recurrent training. Because the aircraft are so much alike, the costs of maintenance, spare parts and customer support are also reduced significantly. The various passenger capacities lead to greater fleet flexibility and efficiency, again saving airlines money.

An airline favourite

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