The first visit to the South Pacific region by a Bombardier CSeries CS300 airliner took place earlier this week when FTV8 (Flight Test Vehicle) C-FFDO MSN 55002 spent a few days at Papeete.
The aircraft arrived at Papeete 02 June from Honolulu as BDA508 and then had a lay day 03 June. On 04 June it embarked on an ETOPS proving flight departing Papeete for a notional flight to Brisbane but as anticipated, and while just west of the Tongan island of Vavau, it "diverted" back to Papeete. From there it departed 05 June heading back to Honolulu then presumably home to Canada.
(local dates quoted)
The CSeries of narrow body airliners was officially launched in mid 2008 following an earlier delay due to market conditions. The CS300 has a planned capacity of 130-160 seats and the type took flight for the first time on 27 February 2015 while the example visiting Tahiti had its first flight on 20 January 2016.
The CS300 launch customer was Air Baltic and their first aircraft, YL-CSA, entered service 14 December 2016.
