Bombardier must find a new source for empennages for the Challenger 300 because the existing sole supplier is unable to meet future delivery requirements.
Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) has informed Bombardier it is unable to produce 60 empennages next year as required.
AIDC is already behind in meeting a requirement for 47 empennages this year and three will have to slip into next year.
Chairman Tao-Yu Sun says AIDC lacks the resources to further increase production and had trouble marshalling the resources required to increase output from 32 empennages last year.
As a result, AIDC is seeking to negotiate new terms midway through the contract that would allow it to decrease production and get a higher return from each part. If this cannot be achieved, AIDC prefers to drop the unprofitable contract altogether and hand the new supplier responsibility for the entire requirement.
"For some contracts like this one, we can't win," Sun says. Bombardier declines to comment about the negotiations and what if any impact they will have on Challenger 300 deliveries.
AIDC also supplies empennages for the smaller Learjet 45, but Sun says AIDC is able to meet this contact and generate a profit. AIDC is committed to producing 82 Learjet 45 empennages in 2004, 46 of which have already been delivered.
Source: Flight International
