Bombardier Commercial Aircraft continued to cite a second-quarter first delivery of the first C Series narrowbody to Swiss International Airlines as it announced Wednesday that it completed European route-proving exercises for the CS100. The program, conducted in Swiss’s route network, included more than 30 city-pair flights over a three-week period.

During a special event to mark the milestone in Zurich Wednesday, executives from Swiss and Bombardier provided details about the route-proving program, which used a dedicated CS100 as Bombardier readies to deliver the first airplane in June and Swiss prepares for the aircraft's entry into service (EIS) in the third quarter.

Fully configured as a passenger jetliner, the route-proving aircraft stopped in several European cities, including Brussels, Vienna, Budapest, Paris, Milan, Manchester and Warsaw. It conducted flights using typical airline flight routings and operational procedures but with no passengers on board. The flights provided data about the C Series aircraft’s performance in a typical airline schedule to and from different airports. Results associated with airfield performance, landings, airport turnarounds and on-ground operations supported previous observations and confirmed that the C Series aircraft is meeting or exceeding original targets, according to Bombardier. The European route-proving program followed a similar exercise conducted last year across North America that included more than 35 cities.

“Considering that Bombardier inserted the CS100 aircraft into a number of the network operations we currently service, the route-proving program provided us with a real indication of how the C Series will operate in our route system when we take delivery of our first CS100 aircraft in June,” said Swiss International Airlines chief technical officer Peter Wojahn. “As the launch customer and the first airline to operate the C Series aircraft, we are very pleased and impressed with the results. It was equally exciting to see these first set of flights operating from our home-base in Zurich.”

“It was a special treat to be able to conclude the CS100 aircraft route-proving program from Swiss’s base and we're equally pleased that it went extremely well, added C Series program head Rob Dewar. “Testing important performance targets using real-life routes is an excellent indication of how reliable the aircraft will be when it flies in the Swiss network. We're also delighted that the flying public in Europe, who will ultimately be among the first in the world to fly aboard the aircraft, got a chance to see it operating in prime cities over the past few weeks, as we took the opportunity to show the aircraft to a few European airlines. They were excited to see the first all-new airliner built for the 100- to 150-seat market in close to three decades landing at their airports for the very first time.”