Delta Wants US-made CSeries Jets As Soon As Possible

Delta Air Lines said it will take as many deliveries of its Bombardier CS100 order as possible from the new assembly line at Airbus’s Alabama factory as soon as it is up and running.

The Atlanta-based airline said it has contractual commitments to begin taking CS100 deliveries later this year and the recent US International Trade Commission decision “clears the way for Delta to accept deliveries in Canada as well.”

The USITC in January determined that the US aviation industry will not be harmed by the importation of 100- to 150-seat large civil aircraft from Canada, a sector that specifically includes Bombardier’s CSeries commercial aircraft.

The ruling was made after the US Department of Commerce imposed import duties of almost 300 percent on the CSeries over a Boeing allegation that the Canadian company had sold 75 CS100s to Delta at a cost that amounted to dumping.

Delta said the ITC decision “makes clear that imports of the innovative CS100 will not harm Boeing because Boeing has no aircraft to offer in this size range.”

Delta said it is looking forward to adding the CS100 to its fleet and is evaluating how best to match Bombardier's production capacities with its fleet needs. It said that while it is pleased that imports from Canada can now be part of the near-term solution, it is looking forward to taking US manufactured aircraft from Mobile.