Airbus & Bombardier to partner on CSeries; build aircraft in Alabama

Airbus and Bombardier are forming a partnership that will see both manufacturers build and market the CSeries narrowbody, with plans to create a second final assembly line in the US.

The stunning announcement, made Oct. 16, will see Airbus own a 50.01% share in the CSeries Aircraft Limited Partnership (CSALP), which manufactures and sells the CSeries, while Bombardier will own 31% and Investissement Quebec will own 19%.

Airbus said it will provide procurement, sales and marketing, and customer support expertise.

Primary CSeries assembly will remain in Quebec, Canada, while a second final assembly line would be established at Airbus’ facility in Mobile, Alabama, where Airbus now produces A320s for US airline customers.

Airbus said it sees a market for more than 6,000 new aircraft in the 100-150 seat segment over the next 20 years.

“The agreement brings together Airbus’ global reach and scale with Bombardier’s newest, state-of-the-art jet aircraft family, positioning both partners to fully unlock the value of the CSeries platform and create significant new value for customers, suppliers, employees and shareholders,“ Airbus said.

In a press conference call late Monday, Airbus CEO Tom Enders said discussions with Bombardier started in August and “moved fast.”

The deal adds a twist to the ongoing dispute between Boeing and Bombardier over the CSeries. Boeing filed a complaint with the US Commerce Department alleging financial help from the Canadian federal and Quebec provincial governments enabled Bombardier to sell the aircraft to Delta Air Lines at an “absurdly low price.” Initial rulings issued by the Commerce Department in late September and early October recommended US airlines that buy the CSeries should pay as much as 300% in import duties, a tariff that Delta CEO Ed Bastian has said the airline will not pay.

Enders said in Monday’s press conference that the decision to partner on the CSeries was “not motivated by anything that competitors are doing, but by a recognition that the stars were all aligned this time.”

Enders and Bombardier president and CEO Alain Bellemare later acknowledged, however, that under current rules, aircraft that are assembled in a US facility are not subject to US duties.

“But it’s more strategic than that; it’s a very good move to bring this aircraft to the US because the US is the single largest market for this segment,” Enders said. He pointed out that Airbus has not sold any of the smallest of its narrowbody product line, the A319, since 2012. “So there’s no competition; [the CSeries] fits ideally with the [Airbus narrowbody] upper range, the A320 and A321.”

While the executives did not give any timelines for when the first CSeries could roll off the Mobile final assembly line, Bellemare said Delta “loves the aircraft” and was willing to wait while “the right solution” was found.