AIRSHOW-UPDATE 1-Turkey's Atlasjet signs $776 mln deal for Bombardier jets

DUBAI Nov 15 (Reuters) - Turkey's Atlasjet Havacilik has is looking to buy 10 Bombardier CS300 jetliners at a list price of $776 million, the planemaker said on Tuesday.

Atlasjet signed a letter of intent for 10 aircraft and has options for five more CS300 jetliners, which would bring the total value to $1.18 billion, Bombardier said.

The Turkish private airline is looking to firm up the order in the next two months, Bombardier's Guy Hachey, president and chief operating officer, told reporters at the sidelines of the announcement.

Delivery of the CS300 for Atlasjet would begin in the first quarter of 2016 and continue through mid-2017.

Atlasjet is Canadian manufacturer's tenth customer for the new CSeries, and with a backlog of 263 jets, more than 50 percent of its customers are outside of North America and Western Europe, officials said.

"CSeries is a brand new product we have seen it as the best economic mixed-class," Murat Ersoy, chairman of Atlas says. "This aircraft will be the strength of our region."

The C-Series is Bombardier's bold $3 billion attempt at designing and building its biggest plane yet. The narrow-body jet aimed at the 100 to 149-seater market will put the company in direct competition with the smaller planes of the industry's giants Airbus and Boeing Co.

The first delivery of the series is expected to start at end of 2013.

Hachey said the manufacturer is also speaking with Qatar Airways on the CSeries. "We have a competitive offering."