Quebec invests another $300M US to maintain stake in old C Series program

Quebec is maintaining a 25 per cent stake in the old C Series commercial jet program and at least 2,500 full-time jobs in the province by investing $300 million US more in the Airbus A220 aircraft.

Premier Franois Legault and Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced the investment Friday in Montreal.

By injecting more funds into the program, the government wants to avoid seeing its investment diluted by a next round of financing led by Airbus, which purchased the program from Bombardier Inc. in 2018.

Quebec's minority stake stemmed from its initial $1 billion US investment in the program in 2016. As of March 31, 2021, Investissement Qubec estimated the value of this investment to be nil.

Airbus is investing an additional $900 million US to maintain its 75 per cent stake in the 110-to 130-seat plane assembled in Mirabel, Que., and Mobile, Ala.

Bombardier sold its remaining investment in the old C Series program in 2020, about two years after it shed a controlling stake in the program for $1.

"Today's announcement is significant for our aerospace industry,'' saidLegault. "The company continued to rely on Quebec engineering to build one of the most promising aircraft in the world.''

The French company had until 2026 to buy the government shares, but the investment postpones the buyout until 2030.

Airbus does not expect the program to be profitable before 2025.