Airbus Canada has put aside the idea of building two more factories in Mirabel to accommodate new projects, but it still wants to accelerate the production rate of the A220, which would result in the creation of at least 500 jobs in the city. of the Laurentians.
The French multinational produces five aircraft from the former Bombardier CSeries every month, four in Mirabel and one in Mobile, Alabama. The total number is expected to increase to six per month in 2022. The goal is to gradually increase the pace to 14 per month in 2025, with 10 devices assembled in Quebec and 4 in the United States.
This growth plan will require hiring, said Benoît Schultz, president and CEO of Airbus Canada, during a briefing with the media in Mirabel. If he did not want to give specific targets, he said that the workforce of 2,500 employees at Mirabel would eventually “pass the 3,000 mark”.
Mr Schultz is “extremely optimistic” about the “ambitious roadmap” planned for the A220. If the airline industry is still weighed down by the pandemic, the leader sees the dawning of the recovery. “The discussions we have with our clients and potential clients are much more active than six months ago. What we see is that our new customers are looking forward. They look at the strategic planning of their fleet. By the end of October, Airbus had already delivered 179 aircraft out of an order book of 643 aircraft.
The program should reach profitability in 2026. “Keep in mind that this is not an unusual trajectory at all. This is not atypical compared to the other programs that we have developed. The development of a stretched version of the A220 that can accommodate more than 160 passengers, mentioned on several occasions by company executives and customers, remains a possibility, but this project is not envisaged in the immediate future, answers the CEO
No new factories
Airbus Canada also abandoned the idea of building two new factories at Mirabel that would have hosted a fighter jet program for the Canadian military and a satellite program for Telesat.
Simon Jacques, president of Airbus Defense and Space Canada, mentioned this possibility at the beginning of 2019. The company has not commented on this project since.
After qualifying and having held discussions with provincial and federal governments, Airbus has decided to withdraw from the Canadian Army F18 fleet replacement tender process, Jacques replied. He did not specify why Airbus withdrew, but stressed that the company must take into account “the risks and costs” when the time comes to analyze projects in the defense sector.
As for the Telesat contract, Airbus had considered Mirabel or Florida for assembly, but the decision was made to do so in Europe.
Airbus Defense, whose Canadian head office is in Ottawa, obtained its first major contract in 2016. The federal government ordered 16 search and rescue planes. This is a 3.7 billion contract, including maintenance for a period of 20 years.
Airbus is in the process of securing a contract to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Polaris A310 fleet with A330 MRTTs. The company is negotiating with the federal government to see which components of the device will be produced in Canada. “It’s an aircraft that is already in use in 13 nations. One thing is certain, the contract will be done in such a way that there are economic spinoffs in Canada. “