Article content continued

“This is a significant setback following management’s announcement following the third quarter that the worst for Bombardier Transportation may be behind,” BMO analyst Fadi Chamoun noted to clients.

Bombardier has already shed most of its commercial aviation assets since chief executive Alain Bellemare began his turnaround plan in 2015, focusing instead on the more profitable rail and business jet divisions in a bid to build a leaner, more financially stable company.

Now it’s mulling whether it should go one step further and abandon its partnership with Airbus, even though Bombardier has sunk about $6 billion into the program and committed to it for approximately five more years.

It expects to take a significant writedown on the Airbus venture after a business plan review indicated the A220 program will take longer to break even, make less money over its lifespan and require more upfront investments from cash-strapped Bombardier.

In 2017, Bombardier ceded control of its cash-guzzling C-Series program to Airbus, which renamed the jet the A220 under a joint venture owned 50.01 per cent by Airbus, 31 per cent by Bombardier and 19 per cent by the province under Investissement Québec.

The announcement of a potential exit comes days after Bellemare celebrated the maiden commercial flight of the A220 in Canada and praised Air Canada for buying the plane at a time when the market had limited confidence in the program.