Streamlined Bombardier Faces a Steep Climb After Selling Units

Bombardier Inc. is the little aerospace company that can’t seem to catch a break. Once valued at more than $20 billion, the Canadian company today is worth a fraction of that and was kicked out of the S&P/TSX Composite Index earlier this year. Its woes stem largely from the C Series commercial jet program it launched in 2008. That effort was scuttled by delays, budget overruns, and an (ultimately unsuccessful) trade complaint from Boeing Co., forcing Bombardier to sell a majority stake in the program to Airbus SE for a single Canadian dollar. Airbus earlier this year agreed to buy Bombardier out of the program—now called the A220—entirely for about $600 million. The huge debt load Bombardier took on to fund the plane’s development remained, however.

Having already agreed to sell its regional jet line to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Bombardier announced a deal earlier this year to divest its train unit to Alstom SA for $8.4 billion, including transferred liabilities. So when Covid-19 hit, Bombardier was planning a future around just one operating unit: business jets. It’s predicted deliveries of business jets will be down 30% industrywide this year relative to 2019 and is eliminating 2,500 jobs.