Delta CEO: Trade dispute won’t affect its C Series jet plans

A key customer for Bombardier’s C Series jetliner doesn’t expect a trade dispute to interfere with delivery of the airplanes to his airline.

Ed Bastian, chief executive of Delta Air Lines, said Thursday on an earnings conference call that he expects delivery of Delta’s first CS100 in 2018 to go uninterrupted, despite Boeing’s trade complaint that could result in duties placed on C Series planes sold in the U.S.

“We can’t comment on the dispute that’s going on between Bombardier and Boeing; we’ll let that play out,” Bastian said on Delta’s second-quarter 2017 call with analysts and reporters.

“We do not intend to slow down any of the deliveries that we have planned for the C Series. We’ll be taking our first this coming spring, and we look forward to taking that aircraft.”

Boeing’s complaint to the Department of Commerce and International Trade Commission, filed in April, alleges that Bombardier is selling its new jetliner to Delta at a price per unit that’s below Bombardier’s cost to manufacture it.

Boeing’s “anti-dumping” claim also asserts the Canadian government’s investment in the C Series program allowed Bombardier to offer Delta the planes at a steep discount in a deal that Boeing says represents a “material injury” to its business.

The trade commission voted in early June to continue an investigation into Boeing’s claims. The Commerce Department is also continuing its investigation separately. It could be early October before final rulings are made in the case.

The Delta order is a big one for Bombardier, valued at $5.6 billion. It calls for 75 firm orders for the CS100 with an option for 50 more CS100s. The order also allows Delta to upgrade some of the planes to the larger CS300.

More importantly, it comes from one of the world’s biggest airlines. It’s also the first and only C Series order to come from a major U.S. airline.

The C Series is a key program for Montreal-based Bombardier, which has spent billions of dollars and years developing the C Series, its first large narrowbody airliner.

Bombardier employs 1,600 people in Wichita, where it flight tests all Bombardier aircraft, including the C Series, assembles Learjets and services Bombardier’s entire line of business jets.

This story was originally published July 13, 2017 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Delta CEO: Trade dispute won’t affect its C Series jet plans."