Bombardier at RAA	June 2006

Bombardier Regional Aircraft had a commanding presence at the U.S. Regional Airline Association annual meeting in Dallas, Texas May 22 to 25, winning the Association's top Diamond Award as a sponsor. Bombardier sponsored a hole at the golf tournament and teamed with Rockwell Collins to host the windup Texas Barbecue at a ranch outside of Dallas.

Bombardier was also prominent in the daily Regional Horizons and the aviation trade publications, promoting the CRJ705 and CRJ900 in testimonial advertisements featuring Jerry Atkin of SkyWest and Joseph Randell of Air Canada Jazz.

In his media presentation, Trung Ngo, Vice-president, Marketing and Communications, pointed out that operating costs have become the most important aircraft selection criteria, and Bombardier's CRJ regional jet and Q Series turboprop have the lowest direct operating costs in their class. The CRJ700 and the CRJ900 requires less fuel and have lower landing fees, air navigation charges and maintenance costs than the competition.

He noted that Bombardier had obtained 372 firm orders for the CRJ700/705/900, with 40 per cent of those coming from CRJ100/200 operators. That's customer loyalty and recognition of the value of having the pilot type rating for all models of the jet and turboprop families, including high reliability.

Mr. Ngo also drew the media's attention to the dramatic resurgence in turboprops, with orders leaping from only 26 from all manufacturers in 2002 to 151 orders from two manufacturers in 2005. Here again, the Bombardier Q400 with its high-speed climb and cruise performance, high technology features and quiet and comfortable cabin are wining high praise. More important, the Q400 seat-mile costs are 30 to 40 per cent less than comparable regional aircraft. On 61 per cent of the routes it flies, the Q400 has replaced or supplemented jet service.

"The Q400 is getting a lot of attention because of its ability to deliver both fuel economy and market coverage," said Mr. Ngo.

It's for all of these reasons that Bombardier captured 50 per cent of all regional aircraft orders in 2005.

"As the network carriers have worked to reduce their costs, the cost gap between them and low-cost carriers is narrowing, but regional airlines still retain significant cost advantages," said Mr. Ngo.

David Schenck, Vice-president, Customer Support provided details on the CRJ Total Support Program agreement signed recently with Lufthansa Technik. Operators will benefit through: lower infrastructure investments will be required to maintain the aircraft; more efficient repairs and lower turnaround time will be realized because of Lufthansa Technik's extensive experience; reduced spares investments will be required due to pooling and an on-site leasing option; there will be no maintenance surprises due to a flat utilization rate; and the operational risk is lower.