Flight International - 10Dec2019

THIS WEEK

flightglobal.com 10-16 December 2019 | Flight International | 7

Spirit builds up

Boeing with 767’s

forward fuselage

This Week P

Output of large business jet range will begin at new facility in 2023

Bombardier

PC-21 turboprop is already in service with buyers including Jordan

Pilatus

S

pain has picked the Pilatus

PC-21 single-engined turbo-

prop as the replacement for its

aged fleet of jet-powered CASA

C-101 trainers.

Tender documents indicate

that Madrid will pay €204 mil-

lion ($226 million) for 24 of the

Swiss-built trainers, in addition

to simulators and a logistics sup-

port package, against a budget of

€225 million.

Pilatus’s bid offered “the best

value for money”, according a

contract award notification pub-

lished on the Spanish govern-

ment’s procurement website.

Under the deal, an initial six

aircraft are scheduled to be deliv-

ered by the end of 2020, another

six before 31 August 2021, and

the remainder by April 2022.

Pilatus faced competition for

the requirement from the Beech-

craft T-6 and Embraer EMB-

Super Tucano.

Cirium fleets data records the

Spanish air force as operating 58

C-101s with an average age of 37

years. Madrid also employs 19

upgraded Northrop F-5Ms as ad-

vanced trainers; no decision has

so far been taken on their re-

placement.

Spain is the latest country to

switch from jet- to turboprop-

powered aircraft for the training

mission. France in 2017 selected

the PC-21 to replace its Dassault-

Dornier Alpha Jet fleet.

Cirium indicates that the cur-

rent global active fleet of PC-21s

PROCUREMENT DOMINIC PERRY LONDON

Madrid selects Pilatus for C-101 replacement deal

B

ombardier expects to begin

producing Global-series busi-

ness jets at a newly constructed

site at Toronto Pearson airport in

2023, as part of a plan to move

final assembly of the long-range

models from its current facility in

nearby Downsview.

Montreal-based Bombardier had

already disclosed its intention to

shift Global production to Pearson,

but has now provided additional

details, including its timeline.

Bombardier says it has signed

a lease agreement with the Great-

er Toronto Airports Authority to

build a 92,900sq m (1 million sq

ft) Global Manufacturing Centre

at Pearson airport, which is in

Mississauga, Ontario.

The new facility will be about

12 miles (20km) from the Downs-

view manufacturing site, which

currently builds all Global jets: the

5000/5500, 6000/6500 and 7500.

Bombardier says it has already

started “preliminary” work at the

new site and that it expects “first

production activities” will begin

in 2023. However, the airframer

is unable to confirm exactly

when Global production at

Downsview will fully cease.

Bombardier acquired property

at Downsview, which includes a

2,130m (7,000ft) runway, in Janu-

ary 1992 with the acquisition of De

Havilland Canada, which made

the Dash 8 line of turboprops

there. It began assembling compo-

nents for the Global Express busi-

ness jet at the facility in 1996.

Several years ago, amid finan-

cial struggles triggered by the cost

of the CSeries airliner develop-

ment programme, Bombardier

began divesting assets.

In June 2018, the company

sold the Downsview site to Cana-

da’s Public Sector Pension Invest-

ment Board for $635 million.

Bombardier noted that it used

only 10% of the 152ha (375 acre)

Downsview site, which represents

valuable real estate near Toronto’s

downtown. The company leased

back its manufacturing facilities at

Downsview, continuing Global

and Dash 8 production there.

At the time of the sale, Bom-

bardier said it intended to shift

Global production to Pearson,

and had reached an agreement to

lease 15ha of space at the airport.

Then in June 2019, the compa-

ny sold the Dash 8 programme to

Longview Aviation Capital,

which now manufactures that

aircraft under a company called

De Havilland Aircraft Canada.

De Havilland will continue

manufacturing Dash 8s at Downs-

view at least until its lease expires

in 2023. However, chief operating

officer Todd Young told Flight-

Global this year that he hopes to

negotiate a lease extension.

After being assembled as green

aircraft at Downsview, Global

5000/5500s are flown to Wichita,

Kansas, for completion, while

6000/6500s and 7500s go to Mon-

treal. That will not change under

the new arrangement. ■

totals 203 examples, with other

operators being Australia, Jor-

dan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singa-

pore, Switzerland and the Unit-

ed Arab Emirates. ■

See Directory P

MANUFACTURING JON HEMMERDINGER BOSTON

Bombardier details Global plant move

Airframer announces timetable for production shift to Toronto Pearson airport after divesting land at Downsview site