![At 149 seats, the C Series will not encroach on the capacity territory dominated by the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, insisted Bombardier Commercial Airplanes president Gary Scott. [Photo: Bombardier]](https://www.ainonline.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,format=webp,quality=95/https://backend.ainonline.com/sites/default/files/styles/fpsc_1200x630/public/uploads/2013/06/032511_PIC2.jpg?h=f23d4b5e&itok=gfw5EUON)
Last week’s International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT) conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., set another new record this year by drawing some 1,300 attendees. As incoming president Joe Ozimek noted, ISTAT has become America’s airshow–minus any equipment parked on an airport ramp and fighter jets flying overhead at ear-shattering altitudes. Unfortunately, the presentations proved rather pedestrian and Airbus COO for customers John Leahy had to return to Toulouse to attend to some “pressing business,” leaving plenty of room for speculation, particularly about the single-aisle market.
On Monday, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft president Gary Scott perhaps made the news of the show with a guarantee that Bombardier would sell as many C Series airplanes by the end of 2013–the target for its FAA certification–as Airbus sold A320s by the time that airplane entered service. That would mean 300 airplanes by late 2013. The company has so far drawn orders for 90, leading to the obvious question, from where will the rest come over the next two or three years?
