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Last week, the US Department of Commerce proposed a 220% import tax on the jets, which puts a major order with Delta Airlines at risk, and could have an impact on around 1,000 engineering jobs in Belfast at Bombardier and its suppliers.
US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has argued that its rival had received unfair state subsidies from the UK and Canada, which helped it win that order.
Bombardier vowed to fight the ruling. “The magnitude of the proposed duty is absurd and divorced from the reality about the financing of multibillion-dollar aircraft programmes,” said a company spokeswoman.
In a statement, Boeing said it welcomed innovation and competition, and that the dispute was about “maintaining a level playing field and ensuring that aerospace companies abide by trade agreements”.
The British government said it was “bitterly disappointed” with the ruling and vowed to protect the jobs in Northern Ireland, while the move was also criticised by unions and industry bodies.
Industry analysts are looking to next February, when the US International Trade Commission will rule on whether the penalty can be upheld.
However, according to Keith Hayward, a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and an aerospace writer and consultant, the damage may already be done.
“No American airline is now going to enter into any serious contract with Bombardier until they know exactly what the price is going to be,” he told PE. “Bombardier can’t give them a firm price until they know what the sanction is.”
Hayward said the prospect of production on the jet being cancelled was a “distant possibility,” but that the ruling might scupper any expansion plans and hopes of extra jobs for Belfast.
He said it was just the latest in a long series of arguments around state subsidies and aircraft manufacturers, with echoes of a similar dispute between Boeing and Airbus in the 1990s.
Part of the problem, according to Hayward, is that the 100-seat C-Series jet threatens Boeing’s position in the lucrative low-cost carrier market.
“If the C-Series became a success, Bombardier would stretch it into 150-seaters and that is a direct challenge to the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320,” he said. “That is big boy stuff.”
This article will appear in the October issue of Professional Engineering magazine