Bombardier q400 turboprop series#

Viking Air said production will remain at Downsview until at least 2021.During the COVID-19 crisis, our team has temporarily ceased taking review trips. Bombardier has a lease through 2021, with options to extend it to 2023. Bombardier sold the property in the spring to the Public Sector Pension Investment Board for likely redevelopment. One issue for Viking Air is the Q400 home at Downsview. “The more we dug into it, the more confident we got.” “Everyone does self-reflection – can we pull this off?” he said. Curtis sees great potential for the Q400 as he takes on the biggest deal of his career. The Q400 business is smaller than that of its main competitor, ATR of France, which is half-owned by Airbus. They have a phenomenal track record of making things better.” As of July 1, Bombardier had an order backlog of 56 planes.Īviation consultant Addison Schonland of AirInsight said Viking Air could repeat its Twin Otter success with the Q400. The Q400 is a larger plane and a bigger business. The rugged, respected aircraft had first flown in 1965 and was last made in 1988. Brydson invested in Viking Air in 2003, which led to deals in 20 with Bombardier that laid the groundwork for Viking Air to start making Twin Otters. He got his pilot licence two years later – to this day he regularly flies a de Havilland Beaver – but turned his eye to the business of aircraft, becoming CEO in 1991. Curtis, then in his early 20s and with dreams of becoming a commercial pilot, joined Viking Air that summer. In 1983, the company pivoted when it won a deal to make and sell parts for several de Havilland planes that were no longer being manufactured. Viking Air was established in 1970 and focused on parts and work for Grumman flying boats. Ltd., the Thomson family’s holding company, controls Thomson Reuters Corp. It is wholly owned by Sherry Brydson of the Thomson family, granddaughter of the late Roy Thomson and cousin of David Thomson. Longview Aviation is backed by part of the largest family fortune in Canada.

Bombardier q400 turboprop series#

“This is just me speaking, but there was always a risk that it would be sold offshore, which would have been tragic for Canadian aerospace, especially given what’s happened with the C Series going to Airbus,” Mr. The Q400s are made at the Downsview plant in Toronto. Viking makes Twin Otters near Victoria and in Calgary. Curtis said it was important to keep the Q400 business in Canada. There have been serious talks over the past year, with a pause when Bombardier sold a majority stake in its C Series business to European aerospace giant Airbus Group SE.

Viking has done previous deals with Bombardier and had asked about the Q400 for several years. While the deal is a big one for Viking, the company was a natural buyer for the Q400 business. People will be pretty happy to see that brand re-emerge on the global stage,” Mr. “It’s a Canadian aviation iconic name – and it’ll be back.