Bombardier has canceled plane orders because of sanctions that the Western nations have imposed on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.

Bombardier cancels orders

Speaking to reporters at an event as part of the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations today, the Chief Executive Officer of Bombardier, Eric Martel, said that the aircraft manufacturer had canceled plane orders.

The Canadian company has done so because of the sanctions imposed on Russia by governments across the West, including Canada, Reuters reports.

However, the CEO also said that Bombardier has such strong demand for business jets that the situation is manageable overall. The company has a dozen lawyers assigned specifically to work on Russian sanctions, and that the most complex aspect of the process is the management of spare parts.

He said:

"We need to ensure when we deliver spare parts who’s going to be the end user."

Bombardier is one of the largest suppliers of jets with Russian owners. In that sense, the company has the added complexity of trying to monitor that when spare aircraft parts are being shipped anywhere, they do not ultimately end up on an aircraft that is owned by an individual on the ever-growing list of sanctioned oligarchs with ties to the Russian state.

Martel did not say how many orders were canceled, but he did say that Bombardier is no longer selling parts to any aircraft that is operated in Russia or even just registered in the country. He also said:

"The market is so strong that we can redeploy these aircraft in other regions."

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Canadian aircraft manufacturer, Bombardier, has axed Russian orders for its private jets and has stopped the export of spare parts for maintenance. Photo: Alec Wilson via Wikimedia Commons

The impact of the sanctions

The reference to spare parts by Bombardier’s CEO reveals the extent to which this aspect of the sanctions package is impacting Russian airlines.

As Simple Flying reported earlier this month, our data from Cirium shows that there are 3,080 domestic scheduled flights in Russia that utilize Bombardier aircraft.

This number is much smaller than that for Airbus, which stands at 16,985 domestic round-trip scheduled operations, or Boeing, whose equipment is scheduled on 16,182 operations. It is also smaller than the figure for Russia’s Sukhoi, which is seeing 7.976 scheduled Bombardier aircraft operations this month on domestic routes.

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A Bombardier CRJ-200 is a highly selected aircraft for the EAS program. Photo: Getty Images

What is the state of Bombardier now?

Bombardier entered the aerospace industry in 1986 when it acquired Canadair. In 1989, the company launched the Canadair Regional Jet program. The first flight of a CRJ aircraft was in 1991.

The CRJ program proved highly popular across North America and beyond. The aircraft became a key piece of equipment for the regional affiliates of major US airlines. It also entered the fleet of European giants like Lufthansa, as well as regional European airlines like the now-bankrupt Adria Airways.

Bombardier’s other breakthrough was the Dash 8 series aircraft. This was manufactured by Bombardier after it purchased the de Havilland division from Boeing in 1992. De Havilland was based in Canada, so it was a straightforward choice for Bombardier when it was looking to expand its production capabilities.

Bombardier’s current focus on business jets was strengthened when it purchased Learjet in 1990, through which it launched the Global Express business jet program. This came in addition to the Challenger program, which it got by acquiring Canadair, and the Learjet program.