A First Flight Bonanza Week?

It looks like this could be a good week for aviation with two new airliners taking to the air for the first time - the Bombardier CSeries and the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

Congrats to Bombardier on a great first-flight today from Montreal-Mirabel Airport.

And word is that the 787-9, a stretched variant, is also likely to conduct its maiden flight this week, weather permitting. Here's a link to an article by my colleague at Aviation Week, Guy Norris, on progress leading up to the anticipated first flight.

The -9 is about 20 feet longer than the 787-8, carries about 40 more passengers and has an additional range of 300 nautical miles. Launch customer is Air New Zealand.