Quebec investing another $413M in Airbus partnership to keep assembly line

Quebec is extending its partnership with Airbus Canada until 2035, the two jointly investing $1.65 billion to keep manufacturing its narrowbody A220 planes in the province.

The French aerospace giant holds 75 per cent of Airbus Canada’s shares while Quebec holds the other 25 per cent. Airbus is set to invest $1.2 billion, and Quebec will provide $413 million through Investissement Québec.

Airbus had planned to buy out Quebec’s shares in 2030, but factors including the pandemic disrupted supply chain and a labour dispute slowed production. Quebec is hoping the extra five years in the partnership will allow it to recoup its investment.

Quebec had initially invested $1 billion US in the aircraft in 2016, then known as the C Series, when it was owned by Bombardier. The province invested another $300 million US in 2022.

Airbus Canada CEO Benoît Schultz said the Mirabel, Que., assembly line has to double its production rate to 14 planes a month to become profitable.

Quebec Premier François Legault said his government got a guarantee from Airbus that two-thirds of the jobs needed to produce the A220 would remain in Mirabel at a news conference Tuesday.

Airbus Canada currently employs 4,000 people in Quebec. Of these, 3,500 will be working on the A220, not counting the employees of the 18,000 jobs linked to suppliers involved in the project.

The average annual salary of Airbus employees in Quebec is $87,500, said Legault.

“It’s a lot of money but it’s strategic,” he said. “We want quality jobs in Quebec. It’s our priority.”

The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) called the latest investment a waste of money and said it’s unlikely Quebec will get a good return on its investment.

“Whatever Quebec does, the tax dollars that it risked in the A220 project are gone, and placing another bet with our money won’t change that,” said Renaud Brossard, vice-president of communications at the MEI, in a news release Tuesday.

“At some point, the Legault government will have to realize that it is throwing good money after bad, and that it has already lost the bet.”

Bombardier sold the last of its stake in the project to Airbus in February 2020 to help pay off its debt.

When Airbus unveiled its financial statements in February, it showed that some 900 aircraft had been sold to around 30 customers. Of these, 340 aircraft are already in service, the province’s Economy Ministry said in a statement.