Bombardier has given up its share in Airbus Canada Limited Partnership, which builds the A220 aircraft in Quebec, Canada.
Of its 31 percent share in the partnership, Bombardier is transferring 25% to the Airbus Group and 6% to Investissement Québec. This is effective immediately.
Airbus now holds a 75 percent share in Airbus Canada, while the government of the Canadian state of Québec owns the remaining 25 percent.
The European aircraft manufacturer took over lead of the CSeries programme from Bombardier in mid-2018 and, with a majority share of just over 50 percent, formed the ‘Airbus Canada’ cooperation. The airplane type was then rebranded to its current marketing name ‘Airbus A220′. There are two variants: the shorter A220-100 (previously CS100) and the longer, more popular A220-300 (previously CS300). Both versions combined have a total of more than 650 firm orders from airlines and leasing companies around the world.
Airbus’ Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury said that this agreement with Bombardier and the state of Québec demonstrates the European company’s support and commitment in the A220 and Airbus Canada.
This announcement by the Canadian transportation manufacturer Bombardier completes its ‘strategic exit’ from commercial aviation.
The company sold its Dash 8 Q400 turboprop programme to Longview Aviation in November 2018. Canada-based Longview Aviation then revived De Havilland Canada (DHC), which originally developed the Dash aircraft family, to sell and build the type.
In June 2019, Bombardier announced that it is selling its CRJ regional aircraft to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries from Japan. CRJ production is due to end in 2020. Mitsubishi is currently developing an all-new regional jet, branded as ‘Spacejet’ (previously MRJ, short for ‘Mitsubishi Regional Jet’). The aircraft type is yet to be delivered to its first customer.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
