The U.S. Commerce Department has set Sept. 25 to issue its opinion on whether Bombardier’s sale of CSeries airliners to Delta Air Lines was “dumping.” That term normally refers to the cut-rate sale of produce, lumber or other commodities between countries when one country has a surplus it’s looking to eliminate. In this case, the commodity is $50 million airliners in a deal that is vital to Bombardier’s challenge of Boeing and Airbus in the mainstream airliner business. Delta has ordered 75 CSeries and has options for 50 more and Boeing claims it was robbed of an order for 737s by the bargain-basement deal for the Canadian aircraft propped by illegal subsidies by governments in Canada. Bombardier has, of course, denied the charge and the Canadian government has amped up the controversy by putting a pending military aircraft deal in limbo pending the decision.
The Royal Canadian Air Force’s first-generation F-18 fleet is in need of replacement and the original complement of 130 jets has dropped to less than 80 in the 30 years they’ve been flying. To shore up the fighter force while it decides on a permanent replacement fighter, Canada has tentatively agreed to buy 18 F/A-18 Super Hornets made by Boeing in St. Louis. But the Justin Trudeau government has made it clear that deal is in jeopardy if the Delta deal for CSeries airliners is threatened by the Boeing complaint.
