Transport Canada and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have awarded both variants of the Bombardier CSeries with the Same Type Rating (STR), which Bombardier said will provide airlines with “significant cost-saving opportunities.”

The STR “is a reflection of the high commonality between the CS100 and CS300 aircraft,” Bombardier said in a statement. “Customers that operate both aircraft … will benefit from the cost-effective, minimal training required to transition pilots from one model to the other. The commonality also extends to spare parts, maintenance procedures and ground handling, which altogether represent significant financial advantages to customers.”

There are currently three CS100s in commercial service with Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS). Latvian carrier airBaltic plans to place the first CS300 into commercial service Dec. 14 on the Riga-Amsterdam route.

SWISS, the CSeries launch customer, has ordered a total of 30 CSeries aircraft, comprising 15 CS100s and 15 CS300s, so the airline will be operating both types.

Bombardier noted that the CS100, designed to seat about 110 passengers in a standard two-class layout, and the CS300, designed to seat about 135 passengers in two classes, have 99% parts commonality. “The models are not stretched or shrunken versions of each other, but were designed side by side, with only the center section being longer on the larger CS300 aircraft,” the manufacturer said.