In March 1995 some testing of the design was carried out. This included low-speed wind tunnel testing. This testing revealed that a range of 2,830Km (1,530nm) could be expected for the 74-seat North American version and 2,350Km(1,269nm) for the 72-seat European version.

At the time of this testing, Bombardier was working toward the first deliveries commencing before the end of the century, in 1999. To achieve this, the estimated development cost, at that stage, would be around C$300M (US$200M).

In May of 1996, General Electric launched the development of the CF34-8C jet engine, which was to be a more powerful engine required for the CRJ 700. In June of that year, Bombardier chose the Rockwell Collins, Pro Line 4 avionics suite to power the flight deck of the new model.

Nordica Bombardier CRJ-900LR registration ES-ACG.

In September of 1996, the board of Bombardier officially signed off authority to begin offering for sale, the new CRJ version, the CRJ-X. It was officially launched in January 1997.

Bombardier's existing CRJ 100/200 plant was not large enough to accommodate the additional space required for the CRJ 700, so a new plant was established at Montréal-Mirabel International Airport.

Retaining only 15% of the original CRJ100/200 airframe, the CRJ 700 received its type certification from Transport Canada in January 2001 and a few months later in May of the same year, the FAA of the U.S.A. were ready to award certification.

The U.S. certification was delayed for a short period while two minor changes to avionics were made before the CRJ was able to overfly U.S. airspace.

Bombardier_CRJ-900ER,_MyAir registration EI-DUM.

The Bombardier CRJ 700 entered commercial service that same year with Brit Air.

Up to the end of 1999, Bombardier had sunk C$650M (US$440M) into the CRJ700, 70-seat model. It was time to move it to the next level.

Looking to address the rest of the 60-100 market, Bombardier was ready to sink a further C$200M (US$135M) into the project. The model, which was designated CRJ 900, began testing in October 2000.

The original prototype for the CRJ 700 was reconfigured by adding fuselage plugs in front and behind the wings to begin testing. Another purpose-built CRJ 900 was soon added to enable the certification testing to be carried out.

The maiden flight of the CRJ 900 was achieved five months ahead of schedule on 21 February 2001.

Bombardier CRJ-900ER, Air One CityLiner Registration EI-DRI.

To round off the series, a 100-seat model was launched on 19 February 2007.

Originally designated the CRJ 900X, but later given its own designation of CRJ 1000, the aircraft made its first production flight on 28 July 2008. A rudder control fault was discovered a month later causing the aircraft to be grounded pending investigation.

In February 2010 the CRJ-1000 program resumed and in November of that year, Transport Canada and E.A.S.A. (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) awarded type certification.

The launch customers, Air Nostrum and Brit Air started receiving deliveries on 14 December. The F.A.A. awarded type certification for the CRJ 1000 on 23 December 2010.

Bombardier CRJ-1000 of Air Nostrum registration EC-MJO Iberia Regional.

Bombardier now had the 60-100 seat market covered with the CRJ700, CRJ900, and CRJ1000. In addition to these variants, there were two other specialised variants built.

The CRJ550, which was launched as recently as 06 February 2019, was sourced from existing CRJ700 airframes and configured with 50 seats in 3 classes, 10 first-class, 20 Economy Plus class, and 20 economy class.

This aircraft was offered to comply with the U.S. Pilots Contract Scope and on 07 August 2019 United Airlines received the first of 50 they had ordered.

The Pilot Contract Scope Agreement between pilots and Air Canada dictated that pilots flying flights on behalf of Air Canada Express could carry a maximum of 75 passengers.

To this end, Bombardier offered the CRJ705 which was essentially a CRJ700 based on the CRJ900 airframe. It offered a mixed business class economy class cabin with 10 business/executive class seats and 65 economy seats. This variant was launched in 2005 by Air Canada Jazz with every seat having audio/video on demand.

Air Canada Jazz Bombardier CRJ-705 Registration C-GJAZ.

To keep the CRJ series relevant and modernised, in 2007 Bombardier launched the NextGen program. This involved some aerodynamic changes which improved fuel economy by 5.5% and cabin upgrades common across all three variants.

Once again in 2016, Bombardier entered another modernisation phase for the CRJ. Responding to modern trends of passengers taking their luggage as carry-on rather than checked luggage, the CRJ was fitted with larger luggage bins as well as a larger entryway to alleviate congestion.

The cabin was further updated with larger windows which were set higher on the fuselage which put them closer to the passenger's eye height. Larger toilets were also fitted as well as more up-to-date lighting.

Overall improvements allowed the maintenance periods to be extended. An A check could now be carried out up to 800 flying hour intervals and the C check up to 8,000-hour intervals.

Bombardier CRJ00 of SAS Scandinavian Airline System.

According to information provided by Bombardier in 2015, the CRJ series of jets accounted for 20% of all jet departures in North America. Worldwide, they accounted for 200,000 departures per month. It seems they have read the market correctly and found a niche that has worked very well for them.

So where next for Bombardier and the CRJ?

Well, surprisingly it seems that they want to exit the commercial jet airliner market. Maybe not so surprisingly, as they have already divested themselves of the Q Series (Dash 8) turboprop airliner to Viking Air and the C Series of jet airliners to Airbus which is now marketed as the Airbus A220. The CRJ is no different.

The Flight Deck of the CRJ-900. Note the EFIS (Electronic Flight Information System) screens.

The Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation of Japan has expressed interest over the years in becoming involved in the CRJ program.

On 25 June 2019, a deal was formally signed where Mitsubishi would take over ownership, production, and responsibility for the CRJ series of jets. The deal was completed on 01 June 2020.

As a result of this agreement, Bombardier has ceased sales of the CRJ. The Mirabel plant will remain open until such time as the current sales backlog has been cleared.

Delta Airlines Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR registration N162PQ.