Bombardier’s new C-series jetliners, which Delta is anxiously awaiting, have been cleared for take-off by the U.S. International Trade Commission, which ruled today that Boeing won’t be hurt by sales of the new planes.
The Trump Administration had previously threatened tariffs of up to 300% after Boeing complained that subsidies for the Canadian-built plane were allowing the plane to undercut Boeing’s sales, even though Boeing doesn’t make planes in the C-Series range of 100-150 seats.
The Department of Commerce, in a preliminary finding last year, had sided with Boeing, but the final decision was up to the ITC.
Delta, with its order for 75 of the planes, is a key customer for Bombardier. It plans to use the planes to add capacity to routes now served by regional jets, or by aging MD80s which replaced the regionals. The end of the tariff dispute should allow deliveries to Delta to begin.
The dispute had widespread international ramifications; the governments of both Canada and the UK intervened (parts of the planes are built in the UK), and Bombardier made a deal to share ownership of the project with Airbus, which has the capacity to manufacture in the U.S., which would have gone around the tariffs.
1,000 Bombardier workers in the UK are breathing a sigh of relief !