Canadian officials snub Boeing over Bombardier spat
Montreal transport giant’s rival wants to continue ‘dialogue’ on Super Hornet jets
A senior Boeing official says the U.S. aerospace giant’s trade dispute with Montreal-based rival Bombardier Inc. is a “company-to-company issue,” and that it still hopes to sell Super Hornet jets to Canada.
Leanne Caret, the head of Boeing’s multi-billion-dollar defence and space division, made the comments on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show this week, where her company was snubbed by Canadian officials.
Members of the Canadian government met F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin and other fighter jet makers in Paris on Monday and Tuesday, but refused to have any contact with Boeing.
Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains specifically cited Boeing’s complaints to the U.S. Commerce Department about Canadian rival Bombardier as the reason for the cold shoulder.
Caret, however, highlighted in an interview with U.S.-based Defense News what she said was Boeing’s nearly 100-year “working relationship” with Canada and the federal government.
“This is very much a company-to-company issue that we’re working through,” she said of the dispute with Bombardier.
“I’m looking forward to continued dialogue with the Canadian government in terms of the capabilities that they need, and how our best products might be best suited.”
The comments are the first from a senior Boeing official since the Liberal government threatened last month to scrap plans to buy 18 “interim” Super Hornets over the company’s dispute with Bombardier.
The Trudeau government announced last November plans to purchase the planes to temporarily fill a critical shortage of fighter jets until a full competition to replace Canada’s aging CF-18s.
The government said at the time that the Super Hornet was the only aircraft able to meet its immediate requirements, including being a mature design compatible with U.S. fighters.
But that was before Boeing lodged a complaint with the U.S. Commerce Department that alleged Bombardier was selling its C Series jet liners at an unfair price with help from federal government subsidies.
American authorities are currently investigating the complaint and are expected to decide in the coming weeks or months whether to penalize Bombardier with fines or tariffs.
In Berlin, meanwhile, Reuters reports that Bombardier plans to cut around 2,200 jobs in Germany, or around a quarter of its workforce in the country, as part of a sweeping savings move.
Most of the jobs would be cut at the company’s plants in Henningsdorf near Berlin and Goerlitz on the German border with Poland, a company source told the news agency.
Bombardier said in October it would cut 7,500 jobs worldwide, mostly in its train-making division, in a second round of layoffs announced last year, following extended delays and budget overruns in its aerospace business.
German weekly magazine Wirtschafts-Woche reported earlier on Thursday that around 2,700 of those jobs would be at the trainmaking business in Germany and that plant closures were on the cards.
Bombardier denied it could shut down factories, saying no such move was on the agenda, but declined to comment on how many jobs may go in Germany. A spokesman said talks with worker representatives were ongoing.