It seems that much discussion is still under way at Bombardier as to whether or not it should launch a stretched, 90-seat model of its Dash 8 Q400 Next Gen turboprop. Speaking during a pre-show media briefing in Toronto, home of the Canadian manufacturer’s turboprop airliner family, Philippe Poutissou, vice president marketing at Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, said the company carried out extensive studies to investigate what potential customers might be looking for.
Bombardier’s arch rival in the turboprop regional market, Europe’s ATR, has been on a sales high in the last couple of years, albeit with just one family product line, and has been considering an all-new 90-seater. Bombardier has a broader commercial family in development, and production ranging from the CRJ regional jet family and the Q400, to the new CSeries airliner, to its expanding Global and Learjet business jet families. The company has, therefore, felt able to resist market pressure to press ahead and has taken the time to carry out significant market research while also waiting to see what course of action ATR might pursue.