Bombardier
- This article is about the manufacturing company -- for information on the military rank Bombardier see Bombardier (rank)
The company is a world leading manufacturer of business jets, regional aircraft, and trains. Besides the famous Challenger and Global business jets, in 1990 Bombardier acquired the Learjet Company of Wichita, Kansas, builder of the world-famous Learjet business aircraft. As of 2001, it has 80,000 employees, and CAN$16 billion in annual gross revenue. The aerospace arm, Bombardier Aerospace, accounts for over half of the company's revenue and is reportedly the third-largest aircraft manufacturer in the world behind the giants of Boeing and Airbus Industries. In 2003 it spun off as a separate company the Bombardier Recreational Products division, whose tracked utility vehicles and snowmobiles had been the origin of the company.
In 1970, Bombardier acquired the viennese company Lohner-Rotax, a manufacturer of snowmobile engines and tramways, and thus became involved in rail business. This section started to grow important in the mid-90s in the renaissance of tramways / Light Rail Transit. Bombardier acquired the assets and designs of American Locomotive Company/Montreal Locomotive Works who continued in the locomotive business until 1985. They built the Turbostar Class 170 trains which are widely used throughout Britain. They also built the Croydon Tramlink and Nottingham Express Transit trams and parts of Alstom's Eurostar trains. They are one of the companies which took over British Rail's R&D facilities after privatization (the remainder largely being absorbed into AEA Technology and Alstom). They also build new subway trains for the Toronto Transit Commission, and developed the monorail system in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Bombardier is a UK Notified Body, under The Railways (Interoperability) (Notified Bodies) Regulations 2000, in one TSI area: Rolling Stock.
Bombardier Transportation also leads the development and production of the Acela Express train in a 75%-25% arrangement with Alstom. The train runs between Boston, New York City and Washington, DC. Bombardier provided carbody design and tilting mechanisms from its successful LRC ("Light Rapid Comfortable") line of passenger trainsets, and integrated a unique variant of Alstom's TGV propulsion system. This is the first high-speed rail line in North America, running at a top speed of 240 km/h (150 mi/h). To meet U.S. government "Buy American" regulations, final assembly of these trains was performed at Bombardier's U.S. rail car assembly facility in Barre, Vermont. Bombardier also provided seller-arranged financing to allow Amtrak to lease the trainsets rather than purchasing them outright as had previously been done.
They were, until recently, a major Canadian defense contractor. With the latest restructuring the company sold off nearly all of its military related work in Canada. However it continues to participate in military contracts in other countries, such as in the United Kingdom, with the ASTOR (Airborne STand-Off Radar) conversion of the long range Challenger Global Express jet. Actual conversion is carried out by Raytheon.
In 2001 Bombardier Transportation acquired Adtranz, making it the second largest manufacturer of railway rolling stock in the world. Depending on how one defines industrial activities, it is sometimes considered the largest in the world in this category.
Bombardier has been criticized in Canada and abroad for its massive government subsidies. This corporate welfare has been viewed as a violation of free trade agreements, especially by Brazil which has complained internationally about them, while giving direct and indirect subsidies to its own major aircraft manufacturer and competitor of Bombardier, Embraer.
Many Canadians also feel tax money should not go to wealthy companies. The government defends these policies arguing that they create many jobs and that Bombardier would never have become an integral part of the Canadian economy without subsidies. Bombardier aggressively seeks out state support in every country in which it has plants, and often obtains it, in the form of direct subsidies, tax cuts, free land, previous debt erasal or other forms. To give but two examples: It obtained tremendous sums in indirect ways from the United Kingdom when it acquired Short Brothers of Belfast, and modest but important incentives from the state of Vermont when it opened an assembly plant there.
External link
- Company website (http://www.bombardier.com/)
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