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Mitsubishi and Bombardier confirm talks
June 7th 2019
Bombardier’s CRJ backlog ends in 2020. Read More »
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Bombardier have confirmed a report from The Air Current that the two are in talks for Mitsubishi to buy Bombardier’s CRJ business. This would see Bombardier exit the commercial aircraft market, having sold the CSeries to Airbus and the Q Series to Longview.
The Air Current said talks are now exclusive and could be completed by the Paris Air Show that starts on 17 June.
In April, Bombardier told the Financial Post its backlog of 54 aircraft would be manufactured by the end of 2020 and that the air framer needed more orders. All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines have committed to the Mitsubishi Regional Jet, but over two thirds of orders are from the U.S. The CRJ market is similarly strongest in North America.
Early discussions pitted the deal as bringing Mitsubishi into conflict with Boeing since the CRJ programme overlaps the regional jets of Embraer, which Boeing has bought. Mitsubishi is a major supplier for Boeing. Amongst other parts, it manufactures the wings for the 787. In contrast to the CRJ’s limited production output, Boeing delivered 145 787s in 2018.
