Airbus to enter into partnership with Canada’s Bombardier

PARIS: In the face of a bitter trade dispute with Boeing, Airbus announceditwouldtakeamajority stake in Bombardier’s marquee CSeries airliner programme, as the Canadian firm battles a stiff tariff ruling in the US.

The landmark agreement comes after the US administration slapped a 220 per cent countervailing duty, as well as an 80 per cent anti-dumping tax, on Bombardier CS100 and CS300 aircraft imported into the United States.

Boeing accuses Bombardier of manufacturing its 100-150 seat planes with public subsidies and selling them at a loss to Delta Air Lines.

The agreement between Airbus and Bombardier aims to allow for significant production savings on the C-Series aircraft and to make use of Airbus’s international reach for sales, the two groups said in a statement.

“It’s a win-win deal for everyone,” said the president of Airbus, Tom Enders.

“I have no doubt that our partnership with Bombardier will boost sales and the value of this program enormously.”

A Boeing spokesman told AFP that the deal represented “a questionable agreement between two competitors, both heavily dependent on state subsidies, to circumvent”, recent American decisions on tariffs and antidumping taxes.

Airbus will take approximately 50.01 per cent of the shares in CSALP, the entity which manages the C-Series program, with Bombardier and Investissement Quebec holding 31 and 19 per cent respectively.

The programme’s production headquarters will remain in Quebec.

“We are very happy to welcome Airbus to the C-Series program,” Bombardier’s CEO Alain Bellemare said.

“Airbus is the perfect partner for us, Quebec, and Canada,” he added.

A deal between the two companies had been mooted previously but discussions stalled two years ago and the project was abandoned.

The C-Series is a state-ofthe-art aircraft largely built from composite materials. It complements Airbus’ mediumrange carrier, the A320, which can carry some 140 passengers.

“The single aisle market is a key growth driver, representing 70 per cent of the expected global future demand for aircraft,” according to a statement from Bombardier. — AFP

— AFP photo This file photo shows the new bombardier aircraft CSeries on the tarmac in Mirabel,Quebec. Airbus will take a majority stake in Bombardier’s marquee C-Series airliner programme, the companies announced late October 16, as the Canadian firm battled...