Delta Air Lines Inc"™s (DAL.N) chief executive on Wednesday said the carrier did not play a role in pushing an industry-changing deal between planemakers Airbus (AIR.PA) and Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO), as a regulatory spat between the United States and Canada threatened the future of a Bombardier plane program.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian praised the deal between Europe"™s Airbus and Canada"™s Bombardier, which would see Airbus take an ownership stake of the troubled Bombardier C-Series program, as a net positive for the U.S. economy.
The agreement for Bombardier to cede 50.01 percent stake in the C-Series to Airbus, and likely move the plane"™s final production stages from Canada to an Airbus facility in Alabama, secures the future of the jet and gives Bombardier a possible way out of a high-stakes trade dispute with rival Boeing Co (BA.N).
"I"™m optimistic that the Airbus-Bombardier investment will help minimize some of the political concerns," Bastian said at the carrier"™s media day in Atlanta.
Bastian maintained that he was "mystified" as to why Boeing has sought to oust the narrowbody jet program through a complaint against Bombardier to the U.S. Commerce Department.
The issue between the two manufacturers, in which Chicago-based Boeing alleged that unfair Canadian subsidies to Bombardier have allowed the planemaker to dump the C-Series in the United States at an "absurdly low" price, has pushed into a broader discussion between the United States and Canada over fair trade policies.
Delta has an order for 75 C-Series at a list price of more than $5 billion.
However, the U.S. Commerce Department has proposed a stiff tariff of 300 percent on the planes, which, if finalized in early 2018, would significantly raise the cost of the jets…
