Transport Canada has issued Bombardier’s CSeries Clight Test Vehicle 1 (FTV1) its flight-test permit, clearing it for its maiden flight “in the coming weeks,” the manufacturer announced Friday. The approval follows a series of pre-flight tests including low-speed taxi runs. Plans now call for FTV1 to perform high-speed taxi runs, during which the aircraft simulates speeds for flight takeoff.

“Five years in the making and today, following receipt of Transport Canada's flight-test permit, we are very close to the CSeries airliner's first flight—a historic moment for Bombardier and a game-changing moment for the industry,” said Bombardier Commercial Aircraft president Mike Arcamone. “The CSeries aircraft teams have spent the last few weeks completing rigorous exercises to ensure the integrity and maturity of the aircraft are absolutely in check with the flight crew's requirements. Pending optimal weather, the CSeries aircraft will soon take to the skies.”

First expected to fly by the end of last year, the CSeries remains on the ground following the failure of Bombardier to meet two subsequent targets for first flight—one at the end of June and the other at the end of July. It blamed the most recent setback on integration delays involving certain unnamed systems.