Today, Bombardier is famous for its line of regional jets, including the CRJ700, CRJ900 and CRJ1000. However, without the Bombardier CRJ100, none of these jets would exist – after all, the CRJ100 was the base for all of them!
All in all, Bombardier would build 226 CRJ100s, which would soon become a favorite of airlines across the world. Even though many airlines are retiring their CRJ100 fleets, many airlines are desperately trying to hold onto theirs for as long as possible…
Pre-Bombardier CRJ100
In 1963, American engineer, Bill Lear, first flew what he called the Learjet 23. Entering service in October 1964, the Learjet 23 would become the first modern business jet, with Lear soon building the Learjet 24 in 1966, and Learjet 25 in 1967.
Whilst successful, the Learjet 23/24/25 had a very limited range, which meant that the Learjets only appealed to certain types of flyers, with Learjet soon gaining a reputation for only producing low-cost business jets, which annoyed Lear to no end.
Hoping to kill two birds with one stone, 1974 would see Lear design what he called the LearStar – a high-end, long-range business jet that would serve as a step-up from his Learjet 23/24/25 whilst not being a costly as bizliner private jet.
There was only one problem with this plan. He didn’t have the money, nor the resources to build and sell such a jet successfully.
Still wanting the LearStar to be built, Lear began looking for a manufacturer that would partner with him. After showing it to several uninterested aircraft manufacturers, Lear would show the design to Canadian aircraft manufacturer, Canadair.
Although not interested in the design, believing the LearStar’s design to be “sketchy at best” as they put it, the Canadair board would order a comprehensive market study for the jet.
Eventually realizing that the LearStar would outcompete pre-existing long-range jets like the Lockheed Jetstar, Gulfstream II and Dassault Falcon 50, Canadair agreed to partner with Bill Lear to produce the LearStar.
Development
To better compete with its pre-existing competitors (and satisfy the Canadair board), Canadair engineers would heavily modify the LearStar’s design. Pouring billions of dollars into the LearStar, Canadair would have a working prototype by November 1978.
Having almost bankrupted themselves producing it, and with very little of the original LearStar’s design remaining, Canadair would redesignate the jet as the Canadair Challenger 600 (later the Bombardier Challenger 600).
During development of the Challenger, Canadair engineers had noticed that in a regular airline configuration, the Challenger could have two seats on either side of the aisle. This led some to theorize that a stretched Challenger would make a great regional jet!
The only problem was that in the late 1970’s, jet engines were incredibly fuel inefficient, and fuel prices were still quite high. Laughing it off as an exercise in futility, Canadair engineers would shelve their plans for a regional jet…
Until the 1980’s anyway.
You see, the mid-to-late 1980’s saw fuel prices decrease monumentally, whilst jet engine technology had become incredibly fuel-efficient.
Seeing this, in 1988, Bombardier engineers (as the company had acquired Canadair in 1986) would take the plans for a stretched Challenger 600 off the shelf.
Here, Bombardier engineers would have a workable design for a Challenger 600 stretched by 240 inches (6.1 m) – stretched by a 128 in (3.3 m) forward plug and a 112 in (2.8 m) aft plug – that Bombardier only needed to find new engines for…
Operational History
Finding new engines in the form of the General Electric CF34, Bombardier would designate this new jet as the Bombardier CRJ100.
The CRJ100 would first fly on May 10 1991, before entering service on October 19 1992 with Lufthansa CityLine – the type’s launch customer. From here, the jet would go on to have a rather interesting service life!
Regional Airline
Among the CRJ100’s first customers would be regional and feeder airlines, including Lufthansa CityLine.
Here, the small size and (relatively) fast speeds of the jet proved to be quite attractive for regional airline subsidiaries of major airlines, often transporting 50 or so passengers on highly lucrative routes they wouldn’t operate on otherwise.
In regional airline service, major airlines (such as Delta and Lufthansa) operate the CRJ100 between two cities that people want to fly between, however, this demand isn’t enough to warrant the use of a larger jet.
Competing with the Embraer ERJ family (mainly the ERJ-135), the CRJ100 often flies several times per day with the same crew, often flying between the same two cities for weeks on end.
From the mid-1990’s until the mid-2010’s, the CRJ-100 and ERJ-135 were the most popular regional jets in the world, being used by the likes of BritAir (Air France) Jazz (Air Canada) and US Airways Express!
Sadly, the introduction of new deals between pilots’ unions and airlines have seen the number of regional airliners that airlines can have, be capped at a pre-set number. Whilst great for unions and their members, this has spelled doom for the CRJ100.
As newer and larger Bombardier CRJ700/900/1000 and Embraer E-Jet aircraft have been introduced, airlines have raced to retire their CRJ100s for these newer and larger jets, culminating in most western airlines no longer operating the type.
Instead, many regional airlines in developing countries have begun to acquire the CRJ100, where it’s used on the same kind of routes that they were used on in the West!
Low-Cost Airline
Yet it wasn’t just regional airlines that saw the potential for profit with the CRJ100. So did low-cost airlines.
Whilst we tend to think that low-cost airlines tend to use larger jets like the 737, 757 and A320, most low-cost airlines actually use regional jets due to their lower costs. It’s only really the larger low-cost airlines that use the larger jets.
Prior to the introduction of the CRJ100, most smaller low-cost airliners used turboprops. However, the introduction of the CRJ100 soon led many to begin phasing their smaller turboprops out for the larger CRJ100.
In low-cost airline service, the CRJ100 is typically the only aircraft the airline uses (mostly for cost-saving reasons), often operating intrastate routes in North America (or domestic flights in Europe).
Despite this, some low-cost airlines have realized that for certain interstate or international routes (such as New York to Boston, London to Paris, or Seoul to Tokyo) they undercut their larger competition by offering lower prices by using the CRJ100!
Although it is usually the only aircraft in the fleet, the CRJ100 is occasionally joined by the CRJ200 (as both are on the same type certificate, thus lowering costs), with the CRJ200 operating on the high-demand routes whilst the CRJ100 operates the lower demand routes.
Much like their regional airline counterparts, many low-cost airlines have begun to retire the CRJ100 in favor of newer jets like the Bombardier CRJ700/900/1000, the Embraer E-Jet, and more recently, the E-Jet E2 series, due to their lower operating costs.
Cargo
With the introduction of newer regional jet families in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s, airlines would begin to retire and/or sell off their CRJ100s, causing an influx of well-maintained, second-hand CRJ100s to flood the market.
Being quite cheap, these CRJ100s have been acquired by cargo airlines across the world, due to the fact that they can acquire dozens of used CRJ100s for a fraction of the price they’d pay for a brand new CRJ700 from Bombardier!
Seeing this, Bombardier began offering to convert these airliner-configured CRJ100s into cargo aircraft, an offer that many cargo airlines soon took. To reflect the changes made to the CRJ100, Bombardier would christen these new jets as the CRJ100SF.
Entering cargo service, most of these CRJ100SFs would be immediately put to work transporting low amounts of low-value cargo (mainly airmail) over short distances, flying several times per day.
In a few rare cases, the CRJ100’s small size, short-range and comparably low-cost to operate (at least compared to turboprop airliners like the Saab 340, Saab 2000 or ATR-42) some CRJ100s would be given a special task.
Their task would be transporting low amounts of high-value cargo over short-distances (eg. London to Paris or New York to Boston) for wealthy clients without the press noticing.
VIP Transport
Despite having been developed from the Challenger 600, which is generally considered to be one of the best private jets on the market, the concept of a stretched Challenger 600 intrigued corporations and businessmen the world over.
Perhaps not surprisingly, many of these corporations and businessmen began to lobby Bombardier to produce a variant of the CRJ100 which had the interior of the Challenger 600.
Responding to this, Bombardier would develop the Bombardier CRJ100SE, which was essentially a CRJ100LR (a long-range variant of the standard CRJ100) that was given an executive interior similar to the Challenger 600’s.
With the ability to carry up to 18 passengers, the CRJ100SE also had additional fuel tanks, thus giving it the ability to transport high net worth individuals on short-haul, medium-haul and long-haul routes.
All in all, Bombardier produced six CRJ100SEs, being used by the likes of the US Department of Energy, CyberJet and GY Challenger, with some CRJ100SEs having been stored, whilst others are still in service (as of the time of writing anyway!)
Seeing the influx of cheap, second-hand CRJ100s on the secondary market, many corporations and businessmen have begun buying retired CRJ100 airliners and converting them using companies that specialize in this field.
Charter
Yet it wasn’t just cargo airlines and corporations that saw the influx of cheap, second-hand CRJ100s and chose to acquire them. So did charter airlines, who collectively operate half of the Bombardiers still flying!
For the most part, these charter airlines have acquired the CRJ100, ripped out its old airline interior and given it a new one, before chartering it out to customers looking to transport around 50 passengers for various reasons.
You see, whilst they’re too expensive for airlines to operate, there are organizations still want to charter out a small airliner, without having to pay hundreds of thousands to charter a 100-200 seat airliner like the A320 or 737.
Currently, charter airlines market the CRJ100 as the type of jet that you want, if you’re looking to charter a jet that can transport a small amount of people, over a short distance, whilst still doing it in a cheap and practical manner.
Despite many critics believing that the CRJ100 wouldn’t be popular whatsoever, the heads of several European and North American charter airlines I interviewed have claimed that the CRJ100 has been quite popular, particularly over the last decade or so!
As of the time of writing, you can charter a CRJ100 for around $17,000 per hour, although this does depend on several other factors such as time of year, charter airline and route, which may increase this amount.
On a similar note, several non-stored CRJ100SEs executive jets are also available for charter, with them often costing a baseline of $20,000 per hour to charter, sometimes going up to as much as $25,000 per hour at peak times!
Specifications
Whilst several variants of the Bombardier CRJ100 were developed for different purposes, by far the most common was the standard CRJ100, which first flew on May 10 1991, and entered service in October the following year.
Having served as the basis for the CRJ200 (and thus the CRJ700, CRJ900 and CRJ1000) its not surprising that all five jets naturally share some of the same specs…
| Specifications | Bombardier CRJ100 |
|---|---|
| Length | 87 ft 10 in (26.77 m) |
| Wingspan | 69 ft 6 in (21.21 m) |
| Height | 20 ft 8 in (6.22 m) |
| Crew | 3 – 4 (2 pilots + 1 – 2 flight attendants |
| Passengers | 50 |
| Cruise Speed | Mach 0.74 (785 km/h; 488 mph; 424 kn) |
| Range | 3,148 km (1,956 mi; 1,700 nmi) |
| Service Ceiling | 41,000 ft (12,500 m) |
| MTOW | 53,000 lb (24,041 kg) |
Why Was The Bombardier CRJ100 so Successful?
Over a 15-year period (1991-2006), Canadair and later, Bombardier, produced a grand total of 226 CRJ100s, making it one of the most popular regional jets of recent years (even if the ERJ-135 sold slightly better!)
For the most part, the CRJ100 sold incredibly well based on its specs.
Although slightly more expensive than the ERJ-135, the CRJ100 could transport more people at a similar cost per seat. This mostly appealed to airlines that transported large numbers of people on short-haul routes, who often placed large orders for the jet.
Beyond that, the CRJ100 was also faster than the ERJ-135, which often appealed to low-cost airlines, as this meant that the CRJ100 could almost fly an extra route each week, thus earning the airline more money!
The other main reason why the CRJ100 sold so well was due to it being the first of a new age.
Having been released in October 1992, the CRJ100 had been in service for almost five years when the ERJ-135 was introduced in April 1997. In other words, the CRJ100 was the only low-cost regional jet airliner on the market for five years.
Thanks to this, the CRJ100 enjoyed a quasi-monopoly on the market. This meant that even after the ERJ-135 had been introduced in 1997, the CRJ100 had established itself as the regional jet that airlines could trust – after all it had proven itself for five years…
Another reason why the CRJ100 was so successful was how easy it was to maintain.
Having originally been designed for the business aviation market (as the Challenger 600) where ease of maintenance (and the lower costs associated with it) is just as important as opulence, the CRJ100 would similarly be quite easy to maintain.
Not surprisingly, lower maintenance costs would attract many airlines, who are always looking for ways to cut costs, and thus maximize their profits!
How Safe is The Bombardier CRJ100?
Bombardier, as with the other “Big Four” aircraft manufacturers (Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and Bombardier) are known for producing some of the safest aircraft in the world.
Yet, looking back at aircraft designed and built pre-1990, often tend to be quite dangerous. So this begs the question – how safe is the Bombardier CRJ100?
All in all, the CRJ100 is actually quite safe.
Of the 226 CRJ100s that Bombardier built, only 11 were involved in an aviation-related accident of some kind, resulting in a relatively low 86 fatalities (which is still 86 fatalities too many, but for an airliner is quite safe!)
Looking at the accidents with fatalities, most of the fatalities came from two crashes – a Delta Connection flight operated by Comair in 2006 (49 fatalities) and a UN flight operated by Georgian Airways in 2011 (32 fatalities).
For the most part, these accidents had nothing to do with the aircraft itself, but rather were the result of bad weather (the UN flight) or pilot and ATC error (the Delta Connection flight) which sadly ended in tragedy.
Surprisingly, a Lufthansa CityLine CRJ100 was even hijacked in 1997, when a man claiming to have a gun and a bomb demanded to be taken to the UK. The crew managed to land in Dusseldorf (needing to refuel to get to the UK) where the hijacker was arrested!
Legacy
Although the CRJ100 is quickly being retired from service, the jet has left a surprisingly large legacy on the entire aviation industry, one that we can still see most of today!
Canadair
Canadair funded and built Bill Lear’s LearStar design, which led to the Challenger 600. Through doing this, Canadair realized that a stretched version of the Challenger 600 would make for a great regional jet, which they later did.
Investing billions of dollars into stretching the Challenger 600, Canadair nearly bankrupted themselves, but were left with a workable, yet crude design that would eventually become the Bombardier CRJ100.
Although Canadair would never build the CRJ100 themselves, their name would live on through the designation Bombardier gave the jet – Canadair Regional Jet 100 – or CRJ100 for short!
It would ultimately be CRJ100 project that would help the Canadian government sell Canadair to Bombardier in 1986, which eventually led to them producing one of the most successful regional jet lines in history…
Bombardier
Speaking of Bombardier, the success of the CRJ100 looked especially good on the newly formed aircraft manufacturer.
You see, Bombardier had made their money producing snowmobiles and trains, something they were quite good at.
Some members of the Bombardier board were opposed to the idea of acquiring Canadair (and thus starting an aerospace division) on the basis that Bombardier should stick to what it knows, rather than get into something it doesn’t.
However, the success of the CRJ100, proved to these board members that Bombardier could produce aircraft, whilst also sticking to its roots, with both sides of the business building off the other’s success!
Using the money Bombardier generated from the CRJ100, Bombardier Aerospace was able to fund the acquisition of de Havilland Canada from Boeing, as well as the establishment of Flexjet in 1995.
Future Aircraft
The CRJ100 proved to be one of the best regional jets the world had ever seen. Thanks to that, Bombardier developed several variants of the jet that were incredibly successful, selling dozens of times.
Seeing the success of the CRJ100 and the introduction of newer variants of the ERJ family like the ERJ-140 and ERJ-145, Bombardier would develop the CRJ200, which was the same as the CRJ100, with the notable exception of the CRJ200’s newer engines.
Much like the CRJ100, the CRJ200 would also prove to be quite popular, with both aircraft being on the same type certificate, thus allowing airlines to purchase both aircraft and use their pilots on both aircraft without needing additional training.
Eventually, the introduction of newer aircraft like the Embraer E-Jet series, would see Bombardier develop the CRJ100 and CRJ200 into aircraft that could compete with the E-Jet series.
To that end, the CRJ100/CRJ200 would be developed into the CRJ700, CRJ900 and CRJ1000.
What do you think of the Bombardier CRJ100? Have you ever flown on it? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Guillaume Besnard via Flickr.