Bombardier said it recently upgraded more than 9,000 sq.m. of its Saint-Laurent facility to enable it to produce major components including the carbon-fiber aft fuselage and cockpit for its CSeries aircraft scheduled to enter service in 2013. The cockpit will be mated at the facility with the forward fuselage section made by Shenyang Aircraft Corp. in China. The assembly process will include “a fully automated moving line using the latest lean manufacturing principles, and the upgrades include new machinery, equipment and tooling,” it said.

Airbus projected Monday that Asia/Pacific airlines will take delivery of around 8,560 new aircraft valued at $1.2 trillion over the next 20 years, representing 33% of new aircraft deliveries worldwide over the forecast period.

China Eastern Airlines plans to aggressively expand its fleet, growing it 74%—or 250 aircraft—by 2015.

Bombardier Aerospace said it signed an MOU with ICBC Financial Leasing Co. covering up to $8 billion in capital that the wholly owned subsidiary of Industrial Commercial Bank of China will make available to support "advance payment financing, delivery financing and leasing solutions"for Bombardier business and commercial aircraft including Q-Series, CRJ Series and CSeries transports. Financial support will be available for aircraft transactions inside and outside China.

Airbus revealed last week that Dubai Aerospace Enterprise's DAE Capital aircraft leasing unit has canceled another 30 firm orders comprising 18 A320s and 12 A350s.