Quebecers will have to be patient before their investment in the A220 aircraft, the former CSeries, shows a return. The program's book value does not reflect its economic potential, said Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon, who was on hand Tuesday for an official visit to mark the expansion of Airbus Canada's facilities in Mirabel.
Airbus will be able to buy back the Quebec government's 25 per cent stake in 2030.
"By then, Airbus will have increased its production rate to 14 aircraft per month by mid-decade. I am very confident that the value of the investment at the time of the sale will be greater than all the money invested," said the minister on the sidelines of the visit.
Before the government added US$300 million to the venture last February, Investissement Québec estimated that the value of the program was zero as of March 31, 2021, according to the most recent estimates. In 2016, the Couillard government invested the equivalent of $1.3 billion, bringing the total investment to nearly $1.68 billion.
"However, this theoretical value is governed by accounting rules and does not take into account the economic value of the program once Airbus production has reached its full cruising speed in the middle of the decade. The order book is very full," said the minister. "Now we have to deliver them, we have to execute, we have to get the prices down."
Airbus Canada President and CEO Benoît Schultz said civil aviation is a "long-cycle industry."
"You develop an aircraft, it takes time," he said. "It takes almost a decade to get an aircraft on the market at maturity. It takes a little time to get it up to speed, it takes a few years to get it to its production rate, and from then on we have a product that delivers the results we expect."
NEW SPACE IN MIRABEL
Airbus Canada commissioned a new area at its Mirabel facility in the Laurentians earlier this year. The area is intended for the assembly of A220 subcomponents and is seen as an important step in accelerating the production rate.
The area is 11,600 square metres, the equivalent of more than seven NHL rinks.
It is the first area outside Europe dedicated to the pre-assembly of Airbus components. Airbus Canada has 2,500 employees in Mirabel.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 29, 2022.
