Bombardier would be about to leave the aviation business. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Canadian company is negotiating the sale of its business jet division to Textron, owner of Cessna and Beechcraft, among others.
The WSJ article cites that people familiar with the matter explained that the sale of Bombardier Business Aircraft will serve for a Canadian company to pay off part of its debt that exceeds $ 10 billion. The manufacturer declined to comment.
In the past month, Bombardier had revealed its desire to reduce its participation in the A220 program (ex-CSeries) due to the lack of resources to invest in the commercial jet line. Although it sold the production and marketing rights to Airbus in 2018, the Canadian company remained with 34% of the program, but for that it should maintain investments in the aircraft until 2023.
Bombardier is one of the biggest competitors in the business aviation market. In addition to the long-range jets Global Express and Challenger, the company has owned Learjet since 1990, one of the first manufacturers of business jets.
In recent years, however, the sector has proved difficult, with an increasing supply of aircraft, but an average annual sales of just 700 aircraft per year in the past decade. On the other hand, Textron could benefit not only from eliminating a tough competitor in the smaller jets, but also having access to the market for large executive jets, where it has a partial presence.
Dismantle
Since 2017, Bombardier has undergone a restructuring process that has led the group to dispose of important assets in aviation, in addition to the CSeries program. Last year, the company sold the Q Series, a turboprop launched by De Havilland of Canada in the 1980s, to the Canadian group Longview, which in 2006 had already taken over production rights for previous DHC models such as the twin-engine Twin Otter.
Months later, it was the turn of the CRJ program to be acquired by Mitsubishi Aircraft. Based on the Challenger business jets, CRJ aircraft were Bombardier’s base of operations in the regional market, competing with Embraer for customers.
Founded in 1942 by Joseph-Armand Bombardier, the famous Canadian group started their journey making snowmobiles. Only in 1974 did the company expand its market by starting to operate in the railway segment. Aviation entered the company’s portfolio in 1986 when Bombardier acquired the manufacturer Canadair.
