BOMBARDIER CONTINUES TO AUGER IN

Bombardier, another great recipient of Liberal largesse, still cannot decide to go ahead with production of its new, much larger, C Series jetliner. Because no airline wants to buy it.

Bombardier has also just suspended production of its first commercial airliner, the 50-seat regional jet that created the category, because sales have dried up. And Brazilian Embraer, with newer planes, is now out-competing Bombardier in the rest of the RJ market.

It seems certain that further massive subsidies will be needed to keep Bombardier--and Quebec--in the commercial airliner industry. Will any federal government have the guts to say "No"?

Update: And no wonder Bombardier is desperately lobbying the federal government (and, I suspect, the Conservatives) to have a (non-existent) version of its Q Series turboprop airliner be considered for the Air Force's new fixed-wing search and rescue/light tactical transport aircraft.

This aircraft was part of the $12.2 billion fast-track acquisition that the Liberals refused to approve, agreeing only to the
$4.6 billion Hercules replacement plan (Bombardier has no plane in that hunt). The Air Force clearly wants no part of a Bombardier plane, its choice being (in order of preference) the existing military transports Alenia C-27J or CASA C-295.

Posted by markc at December 2, 2005 10:59 AM | TrackBack