Page 33 - AAA NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2018 Online Magazine

Asia Pacific region, and the trend expected that the expertise it has in designing and building the A220 wing
to continue for the next few decades at least, will help it play a key role in Airbus’ future composite wing pro-
there is a great demand for regional aircraft. grams. “We have been very clear; this is an opportunity we need
According to Forecast International, as many to grab,” Michael Ryan, chief operating officer at Bombardier
as 6,086 regional aircraft will be introduced Aerostructures & Engineering Services (BAES), recently told
into the market from 2018 to 2032. Industry journalists. “If an opportunity comes on a new wing, Airbus
watchers, however, aren’t confident that the would have to decide: ‘Do we do it in-house or go to a third-party
CRJ would be able to take advantage of the provider?’ We would want to be a part of that, making a pitch to
growing market. be involved in a new wing,” he said.

The CRJs now have an improved cabin, A Tumultuous Year
which has been christened Atmosphere by The company’s streamlining exercise, which will result in the
Bombardier, but the enhancement hasn’t elimination of about 5,000 jobs, comes within months of it
translated into new orders as the aircraft losing its majority stake in the C Series program to Airbus. The
has a crippling drawback that places it at plane, which has since been renamed A220, has proved quite
a disadvantage when compared to its main an attractive proposition for carriers, with JetBlue confirming
competition, the Embraer E-Jet - the air- an order for sixty A220-300s and an unnamed U.S.-airline sign-
craft features an engine that is not as fuel ing a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of sixty
efficient as that of its Brazilian competition. A220-300 aircraft. Delta Air Lines has already taken delivery of

Competition from the Embraer E-Jet isn’t the first of its 75 A220-110 aircraft, which it had ordered when
the only thing that Bombardier, which had a Airbus wasn’t in the picture.
lion’s share of the regional jet market in the
1990s, has to worry about. Mitsubishi, with With so much happening within the last few months, it is per-
the MRJ70 and MRJ90, and ATR have been haps easy to forget that the year had started promisingly for
seizing a sizable share of the business as Bombardier. After the American aerospace giant accused it
well, further reducing Bombardier’s market in 2017 of benefiting from government bailout subsidies and
share. “dumping” its C Series airliner to Delta Air Lines at “absurdly
low prices” in violation of U.S. trade rules, the U.S. Commerce
New Direction department had threatened to impose two sets of tariffs on
here are already signs that deliveries, totaling 292 percent, on the aircraft. However, in a
Bombardier wants to move further major victory for the Canadian company, the U.S. International
away from the commercial aircraft Trade Commission in January voted unanimously in its favor.
Tbusiness and focuses on business
jets. In May this year, the company introduced
new models of two of its profitable large
executive jets, the Global 5500 and 6500,
with more fuel efficient and powerful Rolls-
Royce Pearl engines. Although delayed by
two years, the company’s biggest luxury jet,
one that is capable of flying nonstop from
San Francisco to Singapore - Global 7500
– was delivered to its inaugural customer
on December 20 at an event near Montreal.
According to David Coleal, who is in charge
of the company’s business-aircraft unit, the
company hopes to sell about 15-20 Global
7500s in 2019 and about 40 in 2020.

Bombardier, which builds carbon fiber wings
for the A220 and retains the intellectual prop-
erty rights on them, also expects to solidify
its partnership with Airbus in the future and
to be a part of future programmes of the
aerospace giant. Company officials believe

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