Bombardier experiences "best year ever"

Montreal: Canadian aircraft and train manufacturer, Bombardier, has said that the 12 months, ending January 31, constituted the company's "best year ever." Business planes accounted for nearly half of the aerospace division's revenues, with CRJs and turboprops accounting for about 27 per cent.

Chairman and CEO, Laurent Beaudoin, reporting on the company's FY 2007 (ending Jan. 31, 2007) annual performance results yesterday, said, "Our innovativeness and product development are paying off in the business aircraft segment, where deliveries and order intake rose to the highest level ever."

The year's net orders for 274 business aircraft, marked an increase of 55, as compared with FY 2006, and set a new company record. Beaudoin also said that the order backlog for each product line, which doesn't count orders for the company's Flexjet fractional provider programme, "remains strong."

Bombardier delivered 212 business jets in FY2007 versus 197 in FY2006. Production is now scheduled for an increase in an attempt to help cut backlogs-ranging from 24 months for the Global Express to 11 months for Learjets.

It may be mentioned that last year's deliveries would have been even greater if a three-week work stoppage in October 2006, resulting from a strike at the company's Wichita facility, had not caused fewer shipments of Learjets than originally planned.

Bombardier's fourth-quarter profit grew 30 per cent to about US$112 million. For the full year, earnings grew to $268 million or 14 cents a share from $249 million or 13 cents per share in the previous period.