Bombardier is confident that a new aircraft sector understanding (ASU) agreement will be reached by members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) by the end of the year.
In recent months, major airframers have cried foul over Canada's proposal for the home-grown, 110/130-seat Bombardier CSeries twinjet to be classified as a Category 2 regional jet, as this distinction would permit the government to take advantage of more beneficial export credit financing than can be obtained for larger Category 1 jets.
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The OECD is "looking at potentially combining those two into one" under a new ASU, said Bombardier Aerospace chief operating officer Guy Hachey during an 1 April earnings conference call.
"This is something Bombardier supports," he says.
An initial meeting of OECD members was held in February, and further meetings are planned throughout the year. Bombardier sees the issue being resolved "over the course of the year", says Hachey.
Separately, Airbus and Boeing have also been pressing Bombardier to adhere to a financing pact between the two airframers that prohibits them from using their home market export credit agencies to guarantee financing of aircraft orders for customers in each other's home markets.
Bombardier does not support the so-called 'Country Home Rule', says Hachey, noting, "We feel all countries should be able to support their exports as long as it is under OECD."
Hachey says the rule "is not transparent" and "creates an uneven playing field for some airlines".
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
