Airbus's Bombardier gambit gets boost with $5.4b jet deal

Airbus's bet on a slow-selling Canadian jetliner is paying off. The European planemaker reached its second 60-plane deal in a week for the A220 aircraft, this time through a pact with a planned US carrier backed by airline entrepreneur David Neeleman. The agreement is valued at $5.4b before customary discounts, the same as last week’s order by JetBlue Airways. The twin deals bolster Airbus’s efforts to quickly find new customers for the jet, a single-aisle aircraft which was known as the C Series until Bombardier Inc. ceded control July 1. Neeleman said he would use the plane’s long range and comfortable cabin to break into a US market dominated by only four major airlines. “These guys have not been growing for a long time,” he said. “A lot of communities are underserved and fares are really high. There are pockets of pain everywhere. Globally, fuel is up but I have a very fuel-efficient airplane.” Deliveries of the A220-300 jets will start in 2021, Airbus said in a statement announcing the preliminary agreement with Neeleman and a group of investors. The agreement ups the ante in the high-stakes contest between Airbus and Boeing in the lucrative market for narrow-body jetliners. Less than a week after Airbus closed its deal with Bombardier, Boeing announced a venture with Brazil’s Embraer to join forces on small commercial planes.<br/>