Bombardier Commercial Aircraft announced at the Show that it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) for up to 24 CS300 aircraft with EgyptAir Holding Company, of Cairo. This includes firm orders for 12 CS300 aircraft with purchase rights for an additional 12 CS300s.

It is the first order for the C Series since the surprise announcement in October that Airbus was taking a majority stake in the programme.

‎Based on the list price of the CS300 airliner, a firm-order contract would be valued at approximately $1.1bn. Should EgyptAir also exercise the 12 purchase rights for CS300 aircraft, the contract value would increase to nearly $2.2bn.‎

The LOI was signed by Safwat Musallam, Chairman and CEO of EgyptAir Holding Company, and Fred Cromer, President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, in the presence of the Minister of Civil Aviation of Egypt, Sherif Fathi.

A CS300 in the colours of airBaltic is on display at the Show.

Bombardier recently released its 20-year forecast for the African market, showing intra-regional traffic growing at 4.6% per year and the 60/150-seat fleet more than doubling over the period with the delivery of 550 aircraft.