Canada's Porter Airlines to finalize Bombardier plane deal: WSJ

(Reuters) - Canadian carrier Porter Aviation Holdings Inc is set to announce an order for up to 30 C-Series jets made by Bombardier Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing two people familiar with the deal.

Montreal-based Bombardier said in December an airline based in the Americas had signed a letter of intent to buy 12 C-Series aircraft, with options for another 18 narrow-body commercial planes, in a transaction worth up to $2.08 billion.

The deal, which is expected to be announced as early as Wednesday, will finalize the letter of intent Porter signed with Bombardier in December, the Journal reported on Tuesday. (http://link.reuters.com/daz27t)

Bombardier delayed the C-Series' inaugural flight by six months in November due to problems with suppliers and had seen sluggish demand for the 110-to 149-seater plane until this deal.

Bombardier spokesman Marc Duchesne declined to comment to the Journal, while a Porter spokesman was not available.

Neither Bombardier nor Porter could be reached for comment by Reuters.

(Reporting by Garima Goel in Bangalore; Editing by Mark Potter)

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Quebec to offer loans to Bombardier CSeries buyers

(Reuters) - The Quebec government will offer commercial-priced loans to purchasers of Bombardier's made-in-Quebec CSeries plane, according to a document published in the province's Official Gazette this week.

The document said the government would offer loans totaling up to $1 billion, and stated that Bombardier had requested government involvement in financing the planes.

The official decree orders Investment Quebec, a provincial government business credit agency, to provide the financing "to the clients of Bombardier Inc. for the purchase of CSeries airplanes assembled in Quebec, up to a maximum cumulative amount of US$1 billion."

Quebec said the manufacturing of airplanes was of significant economic interest to the province.

The CSeries will be Bombardier's biggest aircraft, and it takes the company into a new market segment, competing with smaller jets from industry leaders Boeing Co and Airbus.

The new jet is not just an engineering challenge. Bombardier must win over customers as well, and orders have been sluggish. As of late March, it had 148 firm orders of its targeted 300, though that figure excludes a 32 jet commitment to Russia's Ilyushin Finance Co that needs shareholder approval.

Bombardier said last month that it is behind schedule in developing the plane but expects the first test flight by the end of June.

(Reporting by Janet Guttsman and Allison Martell; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

View the original article here

Quebec to offer loans to Bombardier CSeries buyers

(Reuters) - The Quebec government will offer commercial-priced loans to purchasers of Bombardier's made-in-Quebec CSeries plane, according to a document published in the province's Official Gazette this week.

The document said the government would offer loans totaling up to $1 billion, and stated that Bombardier had requested government involvement in financing the planes.

The official decree orders Investment Quebec, a provincial government business credit agency, to provide the financing "to the clients of Bombardier Inc. for the purchase of CSeries airplanes assembled in Quebec, up to a maximum cumulative amount of US$1 billion."

Quebec said the manufacturing of airplanes was of significant economic interest to the province.

The CSeries will be Bombardier's biggest aircraft, and it takes the company into a new market segment, competing with smaller jets from industry leaders Boeing Co and Airbus.

The new jet is not just an engineering challenge. Bombardier must win over customers as well, and orders have been sluggish. As of late March, it had 148 firm orders of its targeted 300, though that figure excludes a 32 jet commitment to Russia's Ilyushin Finance Co that needs shareholder approval.

Bombardier said last month that it is behind schedule in developing the plane but expects the first test flight by the end of June.

(Reporting by Janet Guttsman and Allison Martell; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

View the original article here