Montreal-based Bombardier Aerospace yesterday reported six net business jet orders in the first quarter versus a negative net order of -41 a year ago. While it received 22 gross orders and logged 16 cancellations in the first quarter, Bombardier Aerospace president and CEO Guy Hachey said business jet cancellations have slowed considerably from last year and that the market segment “is doing much better now.” In fact, he said Bombardier didn’t have any cancellations at EBACE last month, a marked improvement from the 2009 edition that he termed “the cancellation show” as customers came by in droves to cancel, amend or defer their business jet orders. However, he said new business aircraft pricing is still weaker than he’d like due to the bloated pre-owned inventory, though prices have firmed up a bit as the inventory slowly deflates. According to Bombardier, its business jet backlog stands at six months for Learjets, 11 months for Challengers and 25 months for Globals. Though the Learjet backlog is the weakest of the three product lines, Hachey said Learjet production “is already low enough” to the point where more cuts likely won’t need to be made. It delivered 36 business jets in the first quarter versus 42 in the same period last year.