Bombardier to Decide on Comac Deal

The two companies are working through a memorandum of understanding to see how they might share features between Bombardier’s planned CSeries and the Chinese maker’s C919, Guy Hachey said Oct. 11 in Las Vegas. The planes are being built with similar materials, so there may be opportunities in purchasing components and working with suppliers, he said.

Planemakers such as Montreal-based Bombardier and Comac, as the Chinese company is known, are developing models that compete with Airbus SAS and Boeing Co. (BA), the world’s largest commercial- aircraft manufacturers. The C919 will be larger than the CSeries, so those models would be complementary rather than competitive, Hachey said in an interview.

Bombardier, the world’s third-biggest maker of commercial aircraft, has five teams working on the potential tie-up, he said. Sales, marketing and distribution, as well as long-term product development, are also areas of interest for cooperation with Shanghai-based Comac, Hachey said.

The company isn’t considering offering an equity stake to Chinese investors, said Hachey, who spoke at a meeting with analysts and journalists.

Click here to read the entire article: