Бомбардье: История взлетов и перемен в авиационной промышленности Канады.

Aerospace manufacturer in Canada
In the 1970s and 1980s, the company diversified into public transport vehicles and commercial jets and became a multinational corporation. It grew particularly fast at the end of the 1980s when the turnover multiplied sixfold within six years. At that time it was North America's most important producer of railway vehicles, Canada's most important aerospace producer and the worldwide leading snowmobile manufacturer. The growth came mainly from buying failing government owned companies at a low price and orchestrating a turnaround. With deliveries of 138 business jets in 2023, Bombardier was the number one manufacturer of business jets in the world.

In 1986, Bombardier acquired Canadair for C$120 million from the Government of Canada after it recorded the largest corporate loss in Canadian history. In 1989, the company acquired Short Brothers. By 1990, the first product of the company, the Ski Doo snowmobile, had become its weakest part gaging up deficits and high inventories. In 1995, the company founded Flexjet. In December 2013, the division was sold for $195 million. On June 29, 2016, Bombardier delivered the first CSeries CS100 aircraft (now called the Airbus A220) to Swiss International Air Lines. Air Canada placed an order for the aircraft one day earlier. In April 2016, Delta Air Lines placed an order for the aircraft. On September 26, 2017, after Boeing complained that Bombardier was selling the CS100 to Delta Air Lines below cost due to subsidies from the governments of Canada and Quebec, the United States Department of Commerce proposed a 219% tariff on the aircraft. Boeing's complaint stated that the CS100 planes were being sold at US$19.6 million each, below the US$33.2 million production cost. The governments of Canada and the United Kingdom threatened to stop ordering Boeing aircraft since the company was putting aerospace jobs at risk. On January 26, 2018, the United States International Trade Commission overturned the tariffs. Boeing did not appeal. In July 2018, Airbus acquired a 50.01% stake in the CSeries for one Canadian dollar, with an option to acquire the remaining interest by 2024. Airbus built a second CSeries assembly line at its A320 assembly facility in Mobile, Alabama. In November 2018, the company announced the sale of its turboprop passenger aircraft unit to an affiliate of Viking Air. It also announced 5,000 layoffs. In March 2019, the company sold its Business Aircraft Training business to CAE Inc. for $645 million. The business included flight simulators and training devices for the Bombardier Learjet, Challenger, and Global product lines. On 25 June 2019, Bombardier agreed with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to sell the CRJ programme, a deal was expected to close in early 2020 subject to regulatory approval. Bombardier will retain the Mirabel assembly facility and produce the CRJ on behalf of Mitsubishi until the current order backlog is complete. In October 2019, Bombardier announced the sale agreement of its remaining aerostructure division to US company Spirit AeroSystems. The division at time of sale involved component manufacture for new and after market Bombardier group and Airbus group aircraft models, and also operated in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul. Due to how the 2020 pandemic affected the industry, the agreement was renegotiated with the sale to Spirit concluded finally in October 2020. Bombardier's former aerostructures division purchased by Spirit consisted at time of sale of operations in Belfast, UK; Casablanca, Morocco; and Dallas, USA. The 2019 20, aerostructures division sell off was described at the time as supporting Bombardier's "strategic decision to reposition itself as a pure play business aircraft company". In December 2022, Bombardier broke ground on the new service center at the Abu Dhabi International Airport. This new facility in Abu Dhabi will be Bombardier’s first full service facility in the United Arab Emirates.

From 1973, when it was based in Colchester, Vermont, Bombardier Capital offered financial services such as lending and leasing. In 1997, the company began transitioning some services to Jacksonville, Florida. In 2001, it ceased taking on new consumer loans. In 2005, Bombardier sold its inventory finance division to GE Commercial Finance.

In the late 1970s, in the Republic of Ireland, CIÉ (now Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus) commissioned a range of single and double decker buses to be designed and produced. CIÉ looked for partners to build these buses in Ireland, eventually finding two: Bombardier, and the United States based General Automotive Corporation (GAC) from Ann Arbor, Michigan. The two companies formed a new company Bombardier Ireland Limited, 51% owned by Bombardier and 49% owned by GAC. In August 1983, Bombardier sold its shares to GAC, with the company renamed GAC Ireland Limited. The prototypes were devised in Germany and production of 51 express coaches (KE type) and 366 double decker buses (KD type) were assembled between 1980 and 1983 at a facility in Shannon, County Clare. They remained in service until 1997 and 2000, respectively. Some surviving examples are now exhibited at the National Transport Museum of Ireland at Howth Castle.

The company diversified into rail transport after the 1970s energy crisis reduced demand for snowmobiles. In 1974, the company received its first order – to build MR 73 trains for Société de transport de Montréal for use on the Montreal Metro. In 1975, the company acquired Montreal Locomotive Works. It was sold to General Electric in 1988. In 1982, the company won a contract from New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build 825 R62A cars for the New York City Subway for $663 million. In 1985, the company ceased manufacturing locomotives and concentrated on producing passenger train rolling stock. It acquired a 45% stake in La Brugeoise et Nivelles (formerly BN Constructions Ferroviaires et Métalliques) based in Bruges in 1986, the assets of U. S. railcar manufacturers Budd Company and Pullman Company in 1987, and ANF Industrie based in Crespin, Nord, France in 1989. A series of acquisitions in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and Mexico further increased operations. In 1996, the company was selected as the lead developer for the Acela Express trains, the fastest trains in North America, in a $710 million contract. Problems with the trains resulted in lawsuits between the company and Amtrak. In 2001, Bombardier acquired Adtranz (DaimlerChrysler Rail Systems), a manufacturer of trains which were widely used throughout Germany and Great Britain, becoming one of the largest manufacturers of railway rolling stock in the world. This division produced the Bombardier Turbostar. In 2005, it launched the Bombardier Zefiro high speed rail, with speeds of 200–380 kilometres per hour, for the Ministry of Railways (China). On February 13, 2020, Alstom agreed to buy the Bombardier Transportation division for €7 billion. The acquisition deal was completed on January 29, 2021.

In January 1934, a blizzard prevented Joseph Armand Bombardier from reaching the nearest hospital in time to save his two year old son, Yvon, who died from appendicitis complicated by peritonitis. Bombardier was a mechanic who dreamed of building a vehicle that could "float on snow". They were used in rural Quebec to take children to school, carry freight, deliver mail, and as ambulances. In 1941, Bombardier opened a factory in Valcourt. In 1942, L'Auto Neige Bombardier Limitée ("Bombardier Snow Car Limited") was founded in Valcourt. During World War II, the Government of Canada issued wartime rationing regulations. Bombardier customers had to prove that snowmobiles were essential to their livelihood in order to buy one. The company then shifted its focus to the arms industry. In 1948, the Government of Quebec passed a law requiring all roads to be cleared of snow; Bombardier's sales fell by nearly half in one year. Armand Bombardier therefore decided to diversify his business, first by producing tracked snowplows sized specifically for use on municipal sidewalks, replacing horse drawn vehicles, then by making all terrain vehicles for the mining, petroleum, and forestry industries. against competitors Polaris Industries and Arctic Cat. In 1963, Roski was created in Roxton Falls, Quebec as a manufacturer of composite parts for the Ski Doo. In the 1960s, V 8 engines were added. On February 18, 1964, J. Armand Bombardier died of cancer at age 56. Until then, he oversaw all areas of operation and controlled the research department, making all the drawings himself. The younger generation took over, led by Armand's sons and sons in law, reorganizing and decentralizing the company. The company adopted computer inventory, accounting, and billing. Distribution networks were improved and increased, and an incentive program was developed for sales staff. That year, a survey was mailed to Ski Doo owners to find out how the product was being used. Germain Bombardier, who had been groomed by his father, took over the company upon his father's death in 1964. However, he quit and sold his shares in 1966 after a disagreement with other family members. Laurent Beaudoin, the son in law of the founder, then became president, a position he held until 1999. In 1968, Clayton Jacobson II invented the jet ski and the company licensed his patents to create the Sea Doo personal watercraft. On January 23, 1969, the company became a public company, listing on the Montreal Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Also in 1971, Bombardier launched Operation SnoPlan, a program to promote snowmobile safety after a mounting death toll due to snowmobile accidents. In the 1970s, the company began producing Can Am motorcycles, which included Rotax engines.