9th October 2012 Ottawa, Canada
The CSeries and UK-Canada Collaboration
Recently I spent a couple of days in Montreal, one of my favourite places in Canada. A great time to visit and discuss the outcome of the recent Quebec elections, the ongoing corruption investigation, as well as take the temperature of the business community on the economy, and on CETA, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement currently in (we hope) final stages of negotiation.
Whilst there, I also had the pleasure of visiting Bombardier – with our Consul General Patrick Holdich – and their facility at Mirabel which is producing the new CSeries aircraft. It was exciting to see the facility at such a key point in the production of the aircraft.
We saw the “Wooden Bird” – the wooden full-scale mock-up on which they are test-fitting key interior components – and the “CIASTA” rig, where they are testing all the integrated systems. And there was a real sense of anticipation as the wings were due to arrive from Northern Ireland the following day.
Fun though the visit was, I wasn’t just going as a tourist – the UK has a real vested interest in the success of Bombardier, which has investments across the UK in aerospace and rail. Indeed, Bombardier are the single largest private sector employer in Northern Ireland, so those CSeries wings make their own key contribution to British jobs and growth.
And this is a reminder of the strength of the economic relationship between the UK and Canada. Bombardier is just one example of the enormous economic contribution that Canadian companies make in the UK, because the business and investment environment in Britain makes it worth their while: our skilled and flexible workforce, and stable and transparent regulatory environment, our low rates of corporation tax and our gateway to the rest of the European market. And the relationship cuts both ways of course, with Canada being Britain’s second largest trading partner, and British companies enjoying the benefits of a stable and prosperous Canadian economy.
So, next time you’re on a plane, you might just take a moment to wonder whether it, too, is an embodiment of the strength of UK-Canada economic collaboration. The chances are it is!
Dear Mrs. Corin Robertson, dear Andrew,
of course, in my sentence in re. of this excellent reputation of these Bombardier/Canadair RJ ‘s, the 3 examples have to be written correctly : Economy/Reliability/Passenger Appeal.
So I’m sorry and do beg your pardon.
BW Ingo-Steven Wais, Stuttgart/Cardiff.
Dear Corin Robertson, dear Andrew, THIS excellent report of you was IMMEDIATELY like an invitation to me.Like:”Welcome-and write”.For I was working for over 19 yrs for 2 British airlines.So pls. allow me to start by interpreting your very last sentence. The chances of sitting in an UK-CANADIAN built aircraft are much higher as the most might think.And they will increase within the next years by 17%.I just want to add now some infos in re. of these new “C”-Series of Bombardier.In fact, they 1st. series were just called “BBJ”: Bombardier Business Jets.The 1st. ones at all were the Bombardier Canadair “Challengers 600”.But also a lot of governments, incl. the Canadian, the British or the German, used and are still using them for their “V.I.P.-Transport “system.Trendsetting airlines, e.g. Air Canada, British Airways, Lufthansa or Aer Lingus(Ireland) recognized very soon the full potential of these planes.In fact, ALL of them bought the next series, the “700” (700: about 70 passengers).BUT now called CANADAIR RJ 700. (RJ: Regional Jets).these were also the 1st. variants, of which the customers could use British built Rolls Royce “Jet-Engines”.Due to the clever Bombardier business policy and their decision to build up now a manufacturing factory in Northern Ireland, (Thank you to the both of you for mentioning this “forgotten” fact!) can ´t be underestimated. (“…key contribution to British jobs…”).This success-story went on with the next generation of RJ ´s, the “Series 900”.(900: 90 passengers). Meanwhile in service with airlines of ALL 5 continents and with an excellent reputation, e.g. in re. of economy/realable/Passenger appeal.This leads directly to the “Star”-Series, the well described “C”-Series.In other words:A Canadian jet-design, lifted up by Northern Ireland built wings and using -if there is customer demand- powered by British RR jet-engines, (within the context of a joint-venture.)To conclude: This time I ´m proud to be an Anglo-German. For German Lufthansa as well as the German Air Force were always amongst the “Launching Customers” of ALL series of this great Canadian and British aircraft-family. To the benefits of both sides of the Atlantic. And another evidence of this outstanding partnership between Canada and Great Britain. BW + happy weekend, Ingo-Steven Wais, Stuttgart/Cardiff.