What is Bombardier?
Answer
A Quebec-based manufacturer of business jets and (until 2020) commercial regional aircraft, founded in 1942 as a snowmobile maker and now focused on the Global and Challenger business-jet families.
Explanation
Bombardier Inc. is a Canadian aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Dorval, Quebec. The company designs and produces the Global and Challenger business-jet families and provides aftermarket services from a network of 14 service centres worldwide. Bombardier traces its roots to the snowmobile invention of Joseph-Armand Bombardier, who founded L'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée in Valcourt, Quebec in 1942. The company expanded into rail equipment in the 1970s and aerospace in the 1980s.
Bombardier divested its rail-equipment business to Alstom in early 2021 for €4.4 billion. The commercial aircraft business was divested in stages: the C Series narrow-body programme was sold to Airbus in 2018 (renamed the A220 and built at the Bombardier-built Mirabel facility), the Q400 turboprop programme was sold to Longview Aviation Capital in 2019 (now operated as De Havilland Aircraft of Canada), and the CRJ regional-jet programme was sold to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2020. The remaining Bombardier focuses exclusively on business aviation.
The Global business-jet family includes the Global 5500, 6500, 7500, and the new Global 8000 (entering service in 2025), serving intercontinental long-range markets. The Challenger family covers super-mid-size and mid-size segments with the Challenger 350, 605, and 650. Bombardier also maintains and modifies older Lear and Challenger aircraft. The company employs about 14,500 people, mostly in Quebec, with major facilities at Dorval, Mirabel, Saint-Laurent, and Toronto Downsview Airport.
Bombardier's history has been marked by periods of significant federal-provincial support. The C Series programme drew Quebec investment of US$1 billion in 2015 and federal support of US$372.5 million in 2017. Bombardier was a federal Defence Production Sharing Programme participant under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales programme. The Quebec government's 2015 investment in the C Series was largely recovered through the 2018 Airbus deal. Bombardier is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Bombardier family, through holding companies, retains a substantial minority stake.
Why this matters for your test
Bombardier is the Quebec aerospace cluster's anchor company. Recognising the 1942 founding by Joseph-Armand Bombardier and the 2018 to 2021 divestments of rail and commercial aircraft anchors the answer.
Source: Bombardier Annual Report; Aerospace Industries Association of Canada
