Bombardier confident of other big C Series deals after Delta Bombardier Inc. believes it has turned the corner with its troubled C Series jet program as it prepares to enter service and is confident of posting other wins such as a recent major order from Delta Air Lines, its chief executive says.
Interviewed at a meeting of global airlines in Dublin, Alain Bellemare declined to say when the Canadian company might replicate a sale such as Delta’s pivotal order for 75 jets, but said he was confident it would be embraced by all types of airlines, including low-cost carriers.
Bellemare said talks over a $1-billion cash injection from the Canadian government were “ongoing and progressing”, and that he hoped for a deal soon.
But when asked how far it was willing to go in accepting conditions such as constraints on its choice of suppliers, he said Bombardier would need to maintain “operational flexibility” as part of any deal.
A federal aid package, combined with a $1-billion planned investment by the government of Quebec in the C Series, would not lead to the plane program being nationalized, or become a government-controlled entity as some critics have suggested, he said. Bellemare stressed the C Series will be run by Bombardier.
“The financial structure around the aircraft doesn’t change the fact that this product is a Bombardier product,” he said.
Asked whether Bombardier would consider expanding its two 110– to 130-seat C Series models to compete with larger Airbus and Boeing jets, the head of its commercial airplanes unit, Fred Cromer, said, “At this point it is all on the CS100 and CS300”.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/bombardier-confident-of-other-big-c-series-deals-after-delta/article30230355/