Taiwan's Aero Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) looks set to delay its privatisation, planned for this year, after Bombardier Aerospace withdrew as a potential investor.
AIDC says it is not talking to potential partners other than Bombardier. But Pierre Lortie, president of Bombardier International, says the Canadian company has no further interest in investing, despite recently awarding the Taiwanese company a work package on the Bombardier Continental business jet.
"The issue from our perspective is that though the interest of AIDC and the Taiwanese Government is to develop a civil aerospace industry in Taiwan, AIDC was established on the basis of military orders," says Lortie.
"We are not in defence as a rule, and it does not make a lot of sense for us to get into that area."
AIDC is looking for a partner to buy about 40% of its stock.
Source: Flight International