MANILA, Philippines — Bombardier Inc. wants to sign up about 40 customers for its CSeries jets by the time the aircraft enters service at the end of next year, Senior Vice President Chet Fuller said.

Swiss charter carrier PrivatAir on Tuesday became the 11th customer to place a firm order for the CSeries, agreeing to buy five aircraft and take options for another five. Montreal-based Bombardier now has 138 firm orders for the plane, compared with its target of 300 by the end of 2013.

“Geographic diversity and customer diversity is what’s going to cause this aircraft to be successful as fast as possible in the early years,” Fuller, who leads Bombardier’s commercial sales and marketing group, said in a telephone interview from the Bahrain air show. “Our goal is to move toward 40 customers, which is where the aircraft becomes an asset.”

Bombardier has said it expects the CSeries, which will come in 110- and 145-passenger versions, to be a key contributor in almost doubling revenue in the next decade. The new planes, the larger of which is due in 2014, would generate $5 billion to $8 billion annually toward the target, Chief Executive Officer Pierre Beaudoin told investors Dec. 6. Bombardier posted sales of $14 billion in the nine months through Oct. 31.

In addition to the firm orders, the company has booked options, purchase rights and letters of intent for an additional 179 CSeries planes.

Bombardier is in discussions with more than 70 potential customers about the CSeries, and the plane has met with “broad” interest in the Middle East, Fuller said. Talks are continuing with Qatar Airways Ltd., which has said it would consider buying the aircraft, he said.

“We’ve met with just about every single carrier in the region and there’s been a really strong response,” Fuller said. “The Middle East in particular is a region that has a strong desire to have a premium product. They immediately see the possibility of a wide-body product in a narrow-body plane.”