Bombardier Finalizes Sale Of 25 CRJ Aircraft To SkyWest Airlines Of Utah

Business Wire, Jan 22, 1999

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 22, 1999--Bombardier Aerospace(TSE:BBD.A.) (ME:BBD.A.) (TSE:BBD.B.) (ME:BBD.B.) SkyWest Airlines of St. George, Utah has placed a firm order with Bombardier Aerospace for 25 Canadair Regional Jet Series 200LR aircraft.

The airline has taken options on an additional 25 of the 50-passenger twinjets.

Value of the firm ordered aircraft is approximately $560 million U.S. ($852 million Cdn.) Deliveries will begin in mid-2000 and continue until December 2002.

SkyWest was the first U.S. airline to sign on with the Canadair Regional Jet program, with a memorandum of understanding in March 1989 before the program was officially launched. The MOU was converted to a firm order for 10 CRJ Series 100ER aircraft which was announced on August 17, 1993. The CRJ entered revenue service with SkyWest on March 24, 1994 from its hub at Salt Lake City, Utah.

"The Canadair Regional Jet has demonstrated excellent passenger appeal, reliability and economics," said Jerry Atkin, president and CEO of SkyWest Airlines. "The LR aircraft will give us the range and payload which the intermountain area requires, as well as the operational flexibility we need to grow our expanding west coast operation."

"We're extremely pleased that SkyWest has reaffirmed its confidence in the Canadair Regional Jet with this repeat order," said Robert D. Gillespie, president of Bombardier Aerospace, Regional Aircraft. "The CRJ has helped establish SkyWest as one of the most profitable regional airlines in the U.S. This order is further evidence of the strength of the regional airline industry and the new opportunities available to those carriers operating the Canadair Regional Jet in their markets."

SkyWest operates as Delta Connection based in Salt Lake City, as United Express in Los Angeles, and, since June 1998, as United Express from San Francisco, Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington.

Bombardier Aerospace, a unit of Bombardier Inc., is the world's third largest civil aircraft manufacturer with its Canadair and de Havilland operations in Canada, Learjet in the United States and Shorts in the United Kingdom. Leading the 20- to 70-passenger regional carrier market, Bombardier Aerospace offers complete families of Dash 8(R) turboprop and Canadair Regional Jet(R) aircraft. It has the industry's widest range of business jets, from the light and mid-size Learjet(R) series to the widebody Challenger(R) and ultra long-range Global Express(R). It also produces the Canadair 415 firefighting/maritime mission aircraft and designs and manufactures airframe components and aircraft engine nacelles.

Bombardier Inc. is a Canadian corporation, active in the fields of aerospace, rail transportation equipment, recreational products, financial services and services related to its products and core businesses. It operates plants in 11 countries in North America and Europe and more than 88 per cent of its revenues are generated outside Canada. Bombardier's revenues for its fiscal year ended January 31, 1998 totalled $8.5 billion.

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