U.S. airlines support Bombardier in feud with rival Boeing
Spirit and Sun Country call complaint a threat to innovation, development
Two U.S. airlines have sided with Bombardier Inc. in its trade dispute with rival Boeing Company, urging the U.S. government to reject Boeing’s complaint, calling it inappropriate and harmful to American consumers.
Low-cost carriers Spirit Airlines and Sun Country Airlines both submitted letters last month to the U.S. government saying that Boeing’s petition was a threat to aircraft innovation and development, and that any duties imposed on Bombardier would be detrimental.
The Chicago-based aerospace giant filed a petition with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce in April, alleging that massive government subsidies have allowed Bombardier to embark “on an aggressive campaign to dump its CSeries aircraft in the United States.”
Bombardier has rejected Boeing’s claims, calling the petition “unprecedented in its overreach.”
In his letter to the USITC, Spirit Airlines chief financial officer Edward Christie wrote that the petition is “an inappropriate way for Boeing to seek to block the Bombardier CSeries from entering the U.S. market.”
Spirit Airlines is the largest ultra-low cost carrier in the U.S., and relies on maximizing efficiency of flights.
Although its fleet only features Airbus planes, the efficiency of the Bombardier C Series aligns with Spirit’s aim of offering the lowest possible fare, Christie said.
“If Boeing’s petition prevails, Spirit will lose access to a competitive and innovative platform that could bring significant benefits to the American flying public,” he wrote.
“And, it is the American consumer who would be harmed through higher ticket prices associated with airlines being forced to fly aircraft that are too big and/or are less efficient.”
Sun Country Airlines, a company based in Minnesota that exclusively operates Boeing jets, said it would benefit from additional options for narrow body jets such as the C Series, adding that the public deserves access to benefits of all aircraft in the market.
“These duties, which effectively operate as a tax on U.S. passengers and increase ticket prices, are counter productive and inappropriate,” chief executive Jude Bricker wrote in the letter.
A Boeing spokesperson said the company was not going to comment on the letters. Earlier this week, the president of the international division of Boeing told The Canadian Press that the company had no intention of withdrawing its complaint.
Bombardier’s commercial aircraft spokesperson Bryan Tucker said it wasn’t a surprise to see other airlines supporting market competition.
“If Boeing wins, everyone else loses,” he said in an emailed statement.
Lawrence Herman, international trade counsel at Herman and Associates, said the letters are a sign that the petition “is having reverberations through the commercial civil aviation industry.”
“That’s what it was intended to do, in many respects,” Herman said, adding that Boeing was using trade laws as a commercial weapon.
“What Boeing wants to do is create commercial uncertainty to their benefit. They want to make it more difficult for Bombardier to get its aircraft in the United States and create as much uncertainty around the Bombardier C Series as they possibly can.”
Spirit and Sun Country are not the first airlines to pick sides in the trade dispute. At the centre of the conflict is Delta Air Lines’ order for 75 C Series Jets.
The airline has already sided with Bombardier, saying in a post-conference brief filed in May that there was “no reasonable indication or threat of material injury” to Boeing.
The dispute prompted a strong response from the Canadian government, which planned on purchasing 18 interim fighter jets from Boeing but has since broke off discussions over the multibillion-dollar plan.
The Department of Commerce is expected to announce its decision on whether to impose duties against Bombardier on Sept. 25. Financial Post asiekierska@nationalpost.com Twitter.com/alicjawithaj