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Airbus acquires majority stake in Bombardier CSeries program
Announced a few hours ago and, I think, not terribly surprising, is that Airbus will acquire 50.01% of Bombardier’s CSeries program.
Some of the highlights include: * CSeries program will remain headquartered in Montréal, Canada, and the majority of manufacturing will continue there. * CSeries bound for US carriers/customers will be built at Mobile, Alabama, alongside A320 family aircraft. * Airbus will look to improve the efficiency of CSeries manufacturing using its extensive supply chain experience. * Both manufacturers see the CSeries and A320neo/A321neo programs as highly complimentary. There are a number of unanswered questions, to my mind, including: * Does this spell the end of the A319neo which, as far as I can work out, currently has a grand total of exactly zero orders? (I imagine this is a ‘yes’). * Likewise, will this put to bed the rumours of a CS500 (stretched version of the CS300)? (I imagine this, too, is a yes). * To what extent is this move intended to help Bombardier (and Delta) avoid, or minimise exposure to, the ~300% tariff the US is expected to apply to all CSeries aircraft exported to the US? Is it likely this will be successful? * Will the ability to offer the CSeries and A320neo/A321neo together as an ‘extended family’ (and particularly if there was any avoidance of the expected tariff) lead to orders from the likes of JetBlue? * Could this move pave the way for similar investments in other Bombardier programs, such as CRJ or Dash 8? (Unlikely, at best, is my suspicion). http://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press...agreement.html Last edited by Rowan McKeever; 17th October 2017 at 10:44 PM. |
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