Bombardier CRJ1000

Updated: October 2026 – A regional jet rolls past you and just doesn’t seem to end: window after window, a tiny wing, two engines at the back and the horizontal stabilizer right on top of the fin. If a CRJ strikes you as unusually long, chances are good that you’re looking at the CRJ1000 – the biggest and rarest member of the family. Here you’ll learn how to tell it from the CRJ900, why it now flies almost only in Spain, and how to get it into your hangar anyway.

What is the Bombardier CRJ1000?

The CRJ1000 is the longest version of Bombardier’s CRJ700 series. The letters stand for “Canadair Regional Jet” – a reminder of Canadair, whose Challenger business jet once provided the basis for the entire family. More and more was squeezed out of this fuselage step by step: the CRJ200 with 50 seats, the CRJ700 with about 70, the CRJ900 with up to 90 and finally the CRJ1000 with up to 104 seats.

The concept was first shown publicly in 2006 under the working title CRJ900X. On February 19, 2007, Bombardier announced the official program launch under the new name CRJ1000. Technically it is a stretched CRJ900: the fuselage was lengthened by just under three meters, the wing enlarged and strengthened, and the main landing gear upgraded for the higher weight. Also new was a fly-by-wire rudder, which is operated electronically instead of by cables.

That very detail cost time. The first flight took place in 2008 in Mirabel near Montréal, but shortly afterward problems with the rudder control halted flight testing. Only in February 2010 did it properly continue. Originally the first customers were to receive their aircraft at the end of 2009 – in fact, Transport Canada and Europe’s EASA only granted certification in November 2010, with the US FAA following in December. In mid-December 2010, the two launch customers – Brit Air of France and Air Nostrum of Spain – took delivery of their first aircraft.

The CRJ1000 is powered by two General Electric CF34-8C5, a further development of the well-known CF34-8C family. Besides the standard model, Bombardier offered an ER variant with more range and a EuroLite with reduced takeoff weight, tailored to short European routes and weight-based fees.

Commercially, the big CRJ remained a niche product. In the class around 100 seats, Embraer’s E-Jets dominated, and later the CSeries, now the Airbus A220, joined in. When Bombardier sold the CRJ program to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2019 – completed on June 1, 2020 – production was practically at an end. In total, 63 CRJ1000s were delivered. More about the manufacturer and its current focus on business jets is on the page about Bombardier.

How to spot the CRJ1000 in three steps

The basic identification works for the CRJ1000 just as for all large CRJs. Only the last step gets tricky.

For the last step you need practice or tools. Between the CRJ900 and CRJ1000 there are only just under three meters – on a total length of almost 40 meters, that is hard to judge with the naked eye. Identification becomes reliable through the registration: how to read registrations and look them up in databases is explained in the article Understanding aircraft registrations. An overview of all regional jets is in the guide How to identify regional jets.

CRJ1000, CRJ900 or CRJ700?

All three models share the cockpit, tail shape, engine arrangement and the 2+2 cabin. The differences are mainly in length and wingspan.

Feature	CRJ700	CRJ900	CRJ1000
ICAO type designator	CRJ7	CRJ9	CRJX
Length	about 32.3 m	about 36.2 m	about 39.1 m
Wingspan	about 23.2 m	about 24.9 m	about 26.2 m
Seats (maximum)	about 70 to 78	90	104
First flight	1999	2001	2008

Between the CRJ700 and CRJ1000 there are almost seven meters – you can see that difference even without a comparison aircraft. The CRJ700 looks compact, the CRJ1000 by contrast almost overly stretched. The distinction from the CRJ900 is harder. A few hints help anyway:

• Window row: On the CRJ1000, there are visibly more windows ahead of the wing than on the CRJ900. If you’ve photographed both types in side profile, you can count the windows.
• Proportions: The wing looks even smaller relative to the fuselage on the CRJ1000, even though it is actually slightly larger than on the CRJ900.
• Operator: Because the CRJ1000 only flew with a few airlines, the livery narrows the choice considerably.

The older CRJ200, by contrast, is easy to rule out: it is more than ten meters shorter and has no slats on the wing leading edge.

CRJ1000, E190, E195 or Fokker 100?

In the size class around 100 seats, there are a few types that look similar at first glance. The finder helps you narrow it down.

The Embraer E190 and the E195 were the direct competitors of the CRJ1000 – and clearly won the market. They carry their engines under the wings and have a conventional tail. For the Fokker 100, fuselage thickness and tail shape help. The Mitsubishi SpaceJet, Mitsubishi’s own regional jet project, never entered airline service.

Air Nostrum: home of the CRJ1000

If a CRJ1000 is flying anywhere today, it is very likely for Air Nostrum. The regional airline from Valencia was one of the two launch customers and has made the type the backbone of its jet fleet. As of 2025, it operated around 30 CRJ1000s, all with 100 seats in one class; besides that it mainly flies the ATR 72-600.

Air Nostrum flies as Iberia Regional: flights run under Iberia flight numbers, and the aircraft wear Iberia colors with their own titles. That makes the CRJ1000s part of the feeder network of Iberia and, indirectly, of Oneworld. Important airports are Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat, Palma de Mallorca and, of course, the home base Valencia.

Because Air Nostrum operates so many CRJ1000s, collecting registrations in a targeted way pays off here. With around 30 aircraft, you have plenty of material to complete the fleet registration by registration. You can read more about the company and its routes in the article on regional airlines in Europe.

Brit Air and HOP!: the French chapter

The second launch customer was Brit Air from Morlaix in Brittany, a regional subsidiary of Air France. Brit Air flew on behalf of Air France, with important bases including Lyon and Paris. It was also the first customer for the EuroLite version with reduced takeoff weight.

From March 2013, all Brit Air flights ran under the new brand HOP!, in which Air France bundled its regional companies Brit Air, Régional and Airlinair. By 2017, the three operations had been fully merged into HOP!. In August 2019, the HOP! fleet comprised 14 CRJ1000s – at the time, next to Air Nostrum, the second large fleet of the type.

In December 2020, Air France announced it would convert HOP! into a smaller feeder operation and retire the entire CRJ fleet. Since then the airline has relied on Embraer jets; no more CRJ1000s appear in the fleet (as of 2025), the last ones disappeared in 2022. Photos of CRJ1000s in HOP! colors at Paris-Charles de Gaulle or Lyon are therefore archive shots. You can find more about the group behind it at Air France-KLM.

Garuda Indonesia: the CRJ1000 in Asia

Outside Europe, Garuda Indonesia was the best-known operator. The Indonesian airline ordered the type in the early 2010s and became the launch customer for the ER variant with greater range. Part of the fleet was leased. From the end of 2013, the jets flew under the sub-brand Explore Jet to serve smaller regional airports from hubs such as Denpasar, Makassar and Medan.

The airline was not happy with the type. The fleet was grounded in the early 2020s and mostly returned to the lessors, and the procurement of the CRJ1000 and ATR 72-600 later occupied the Indonesian justice system. So if you’ve photographed Garuda CRJ1000s, you own historic shots.

Where you can see the CRJ1000 today

The CRJ1000 is clearly a Spanish type. Its chances in the German-speaking world are slim, while in Spain it is part of everyday life at the big airports.

Region	Chance of a hit (as of October 2026)	Why
Spain (mainland and Balearics)	high	Large fleet at Air Nostrum / Iberia Regional
France	low	HOP! has retired its CRJs
Germany, Austria, Switzerland	very low	No known regular scheduled service, at most charter or ferry flights
Asia	very low	Garuda has returned its fleet

In Madrid, the La Muñoza spot suits, in Barcelona the Mirador del Prat. Both airports have a lot of Iberia regional traffic. Tips on locations, runway operations and light are in the guides Plane spotting in Madrid, Plane spotting in Barcelona and Plane spotting in Mallorca – in Palma, the CRJ1000s fly regularly to and from the mainland.

In Germany, by contrast, a CRJ1000 becomes a candidate for the spotting rare aircraft category. How to detect such a visitor in time in a tracker is covered in the guide on flight tracking with ADS-B.

Spotting tips for the CRJ1000

Long, slim and relatively small in cross-section: the CRJ1000 makes its own demands on framing and perspective.

With the sun position planner in Planetrack, you can see right away at which spot the sun is at your back at the arrival time, and the spot map shows you directions, best light and community photos. Whether your location is legally fine is covered in the article Is plane spotting allowed?.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The CRJ1000 is the end point of a long development: a business jet fuselage turned into a regional jet for over 100 passengers. Economically it couldn’t prevail against the E-Jets, and with only 63 built it is now a type for connoisseurs. HOP! and Garuda have retired it, and Air Nostrum keeps it alive in Spain.