Montreal based jet manufacturer Bombardier has found itself in a huge problem as its sole Canadian CSeries order is in doubt after officials in Ottawa confirmed that it would not allow passenger jets to take off from Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. The order was placed by Porter Airlines and the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is a hub for Porter Airlines.

Porter in 2013, place on order worth US$870 million for a dozen of the 110 to 125 seat CSeries aircraft on the condition that they would be allowed to operate at the Billy Bishop City Airport. It initially also had an option of 18 more aircrafts if all the above options were exercised. This would raise the list price to a staggering US$2.15 billion.

Porter had thought of using this new fleet of planes to fly to destinations across North America that were beyond the capability of its fleet of Q400s. I feel that if Porter declines from taking the order then it will cause a big blow to Bombardier which is struggling to sell its CSeries jets and also hasn’t received any order in the past year.

The deal made between Bombardier and Porter itself was a risky deal as the government wouldn’t grant permission for any passenger jets from taking off from Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and this was pretty much certain at the time of the deal itself. Bombardier took the risk and now might just hear the music for the decision.
In order to help Bombardier, the Quebec government has agreed to give US$1.1 billion to Bombardier in order to complete the CSeries project in exchange of 49.5% stake in the project.

References:
– http://www.thespec.com/news-story/6117945-fate-of-bombardier-s-sole-cseries-jet-order-in-canada-in-question/
– http://business.financialpost.com/news/transportation/transport-minister-marc-garneau-rules-out-jets-at-billy-bishop-toronto-city-airport
– http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/bombardier-porter-toronto-island-cseries-1.3317865