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Comment by miketery | Hacker News Reader

Boeing has not only lost their way (i.e. 737 MAX), but was actively malicious in its use of the federal government to impose tariffs against Bombardier in a huge deal to Delta airlines.

End result is that Bombardier suffered a huge loss, had to sell IP to airbus (joint venture deal), prices to end consumer are higher, and aviation manufacturing competition is stiffed.

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Boeing did not abuse the tariff system; they used it exactly as designed. The tariff system encourages reports by competitors, and awards a portion of the collections to the competitors.

I am a free-trader, and think all tariffs are bad, but Boeing acted in the spirit of that law.

Bombardier's aspirations were stymied by an incredibly expensive certification process, which they underestimated.

I'm still puzzled by the Canadian government's decision not to help Bombardier when that happened. I mean the tariffs were eventually waived.

The A220 has something like 600+ firm orders from what I recall. It's going to be hugely profitable and Airbus is basically making all the profits. Was it politically motivated? Why wouldn't Canada want an aerospace sector?

Bombardier was not really a sure bet and maybe Canada didn't want to risk tax payer's money? Just because Airbus succeeded with A220 doesn't mean Bombardier would have done the same.

It already had more orders than required to break even. Development on the aircraft was also completed (and it was FAA/EASA certified) when Airbus took over.

I'm failing to see how this wasn't a sure bet...

Probably because at the time it was deemed politically unpopular for the state to prop up a private business.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I always pictured Canada as being way more interventionist than the US.

Oil and gas, Hydro power in Newfoundland and auto plants all got bailed out.

I'm surprised they would give up support for a cutting edge industry like aerospace. That type of expertise will be almost impossible to rebuild.

More like they learnt nothing from the brain drain due to Avro cancellation.

Bombardier has its own problems and is viewed as a corrupt Quebec company by much of English Canada (that is, the rest of us). So the other comments on the political appetite to bail them out again are mostly correct.

[1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-world-bank-... [2] https://globalnews.ca/news/3354398/bombardier-trudeau-hammer... [3] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/bombardier-what-happ...

So Canadians would rather have Europe or the US take the lead (and make the profits) rather than Canada because the company is from Quebec? To me that makes no sense.

Airbus got a very nifty little plane out of it too, one that Boeing can not currently effectively compete with.

Bombardier IIRC fucks over NYC and other cities with crappy over-budget behind-schedule subways cars, so eh, a pox on both their houses.

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