Aircraft
Bombardier Taps Budding Mideast RJ Market
Bombardier Regional Aircraft’s Middle East sales force saw years of persistence bear fruit this month as the company landed a firm order for six CRJ900s fr

Bombardier Regional Aircraft’s Middle East sales force saw years of persistence bear fruit this month as the company landed a firm order for six CRJ900s from the Government of Iraq and another for eight CRJ700s from Yemen’s Felix Airways.

The Iraqi deal marks a breakthrough in the country’s effort to rebuild its civilian airline. Bombardier was careful, however, to say that the contract came from the government of Iraq, and not Iraqi Airways. In 2004, a British court awarded Kuwait $1.2 billion in compensation for Iraqi Airways’ theft of 10 aircraft and associated spare parts from Kuwait Airways during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. To this day Kuwait continues its attempts to collect on the judgment and could attempt to block any transfer of funds for aircraft purchases until it gets paid.