It’s now official: Airbus owns a 50.01 percent stake in the C Series Aircraft Limited Partnership after the deal officially closed July 1.
Airbus is joined in the project by Bombardier, which now owns 34 percent, and Investissement Québec, which owns 16 percent.
CSALP’s head office, primary assembly line and related functions are based in Mirabel, Quebec.
Airbus will provide procurement, sales and marketing and customer support expertise to the venture and sees the 100 to 150 seat C series as “highly complementary” to its single-aisle aircraft in the 150-240-seat range.
The partnership brings two airliners into the Airbus line-up, the CS100 and the bigger CS300, to combine with the European manufacturer’s A319 to compete in the lower end of the single-aisle market.
The C series first flew in 2016 with Swiss International Airlines and the CS100 flies up to 133 passengers in a single-class configuration while the CS300 can handle up to 160.
The aircraft features advanced aerodynamics and is powered by twin Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1500G geared turbofan engines with 20 percent lower fuel burn per seat than previous generation aircraft, half the noise footprint, and decreased emissions.
The cabin allows for wider seats and more spacious overhead bins in a 2-3 configuration
READ our review of Air Baltic’s CS300.
Airbus puts the range of the CS100 at 3100nm (5,741kms) in a “typical” seating configuration of 120 passengers and of the CS300 at 3,300nm (6,112kms) with 130-140 passengers on board.
Orders for the two planes topped 370 as of March 31, including an order from Delta Airlines for 75 CS100s.
Delta plans to its first aircraft in the fourth-quarter of 2018 with entry into service planned for early 2019.
That deal was almost scuttled by a move by the US to levy a punishing 300 percent tariff on the C series.
The Commerce Department decided to impose the tariff after Boeing filed a trade complaint in 2017, arguing Bombardier was subsidized by the Canadian government and was able to sell its planes in the US at an unfair discount.
But in a move that left-footed aviation industry pundits, ITC commissioners voted 4-nil to overturn the ruling after it determined a US industry was not materially injured or threatened with a material injury because of the import of the jets.
Embraer’s answer to the C Series, the E190-E2, was certified in March and it has a bigger version on the way.
Airbus rival Boeing has been talking with Embraer about a tie-up and Brazilian Defense Minister Joaquim Silva e Luna said in May he was hopeful discussions would wrap up by year’s end.
