Airbus Invests in Bombardier Program

Airbus will acquire a majority stake in Canadian firm Bombardier’s C Series airliner program. The deal follows the US administration slapping massive duties on Bombardier CS100 and CS300 aircraft imported into the US, DW reported. Airbus will take approximately 50.01% of the shares in CSALP, the entity which manages the C Series program, with Bombardier and Investment Quebec holding 31 and 19%, respectively. Canada now becomes Airbus’s fifth home country and first outside Europe. The C Series headquarters will remain in the Montreal area, but a second assembly line for the 100- to 150-seat plane will be set up at Airbus’s facility in Alabama. Neither company will contribute cash to the new venture and will take on any debt. “It’s a win-win deal for everyone,” said the president of Airbus, Tom Enders, adding that the partnership would secure industrial operations in Canada, Britain and China and bring new jobs to the US.