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By Scott Hamilton and Bjorn Fehrm
Aug. 20, 2026, © Leeham News: Boeing’s strategy of filing a trade complaint against Bombardier in 2017 for alleged price dumping of its C Series was simple: kill the US market for the airplane, and that would kill the program worldwide.
Given the weakened financial state of Bombardier, Boeing correctly understood that the Canadian company couldn’t withstand this blow. But Boeing also miscalculated. Over the years, its executives had a mixed record in making strategic and tactical decisions, with some outstanding. Yet they were also known for significant missteps. Their handling of the C Series was just the latest example.
The public messaging about the C Series and the trade complaint was that the airplane and Bombardier’s alleged price dumping posed an existential threat to Boeing. Price dumping is selling a product at a price substantially below cost that a competitor can’t match. If allowed to go unchecked, the C Series could destroy Boeing’s key money-maker, the 737—and with it, the entire company, and the broader US aerospace industry.
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It was a preposterous thesis. Bombardier was a fraction of Boeing's revenue. Boeing had a broad family of airplanes and a first-rate global product support system. Bombardier’s traditional niche was regional jets for the US Scope Clause market, a sector Embraer was now winning hands-down as Bombardier neglected CRJ sales in favor of the larger C Series. The C Series was too large for the US Scope Clause market; it nibbled at the smallest end of the mainline single-aisle market.
But Boeing’s biggest miscalculation was that Bombardier had alternatives to competing with Boeing. Selling the program was the alternative, and Boeing declined to acquire it from Bombardier.
Bombardier turned to China, but the Canadian government made clear that it would not approve the sale.
That left Airbus. Having once turned down a purchase, Airbus this time bought 50.1% of the program and renamed it the A220.
Embraer viewed the transaction as an existential threat to its business.
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Category: Boeing, Embraer, Premium
Tags: Airbus, Boeing Brasil, Boeing trade complaint, Bombardier, Delta Air Lines, John Slattery