Bombardier's home province faces nervous times as Canadian manufacturer prepares to select assembly site
Quebec's aerospace industry is anxiously awaiting Bombardier's launch decision on its proposed CSeries family of aircraft. The province, which is home to nearly
Bombardier says "the goal is still to launch in 2005", but Benjamin Boehm, programme management office director for new commercial aircraft, would not be drawn on whether an announcement would be made at the Paris air show.
Bombardier says it will offer sales proposals to potential customers and finalise sales commitments before returning to the board to request programme launch and recommend the final assembly site. Ontario in Canada and Belfast in Northern Ireland, UK are in the running for the work, along with Bombardier's home city of Montreal.
Bernard Strauss, aerospace adviser to the Quebec ministry for economic development, innovation and exports, says that the CSeries, if assembled in Montreal, would attract other suppliers to the area.
Jean Teasdale, vice-president cargo and industrial development for Aeroports de Montreal (AdM,) is hopeful that the city will be selected for the work.
But he stresses that current plans to attract manufacturers, component suppliers and maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO), businesses to create an aerospace industry centre at Mirabel airport will continue even if the CSeries goes elsewhere.
"Of course it would not have a positive impact on Montreal industry, but it would not restrict current developments. We will pursue our existing business plan and accelerate it if Bombardier decides on Montreal." Teasdale says he hopes to be in a position to make an announcement in the MRO sector before the end of the year.
AdM, which manages Montreal's Mirabel and Dorval airports, has proposed a deal for Bombardier under which the manufacturer would lease 372,000m2 (4 million ft2) of land next to its existing Mirabel regional jet assembly plant, with 65,000m2 to be taken up by buildings, for the assembly of the CSeries, making an aerospace centre second only to Toulouse in size.
Mirabel was originally intended to take over from Dorval as the city's main airport, but has not handled passenger flights since November last year. The government has given the go-ahead for the opening of an aerospace training centre at Mirabel, with the first training programmes due to start on 1 June.
HELEN MASSY-BERESFORD/MONTREAL
Source: Flight International
