Bombardier to deliver handful of Global 7500 jets in first half 2019

(Reuters) - Bombardier Inc, the Canadian train and plane maker, will deliver a handful of its new flagship Global 7500 business jets to customers in the first half of 2019, with the remaining 10-15 deliveries expected in the second half, its chief financial officer said on Wednesday. The company has forecast 15 to 20 deliveries of the long-range planes, which cost $73 million at list price, in 2019. Deliveries are expected to rise to 35 to 40 aircraft in 2020. Investors and analysts closely watch the schedule of when aircraft are turned over to customers for clues about the company's cash flow since buyers pay the bulk of the cost of a new plane on delivery. "We're in the neighborhood of 30 aircraft at some stage of production as we speak today," CFO John Di Bert said at the Barclays Industrial Select Conference in Miami. The Global 7500, which entered service in 2018 as the company's largest business jet, is key for the Montreal-based company to hit its 2020 target of generating $20 billion in revenues. In January, Bombardier said it would acquire the manufacturing unit from aircraft parts supplier Triumph Group Inc, which produces the wing for the Global 7500. (Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)