Bombardier ‘on track’ after strong first quarter

Bombardier is well on its way to meeting its yearly objectives following a strong first quarter (Q1) 2022. The Canadian OEM’s $167m in pre-tax earnings in the quarter is a 36% rise over the same period a year ago.

President and CEO Éric Martel told investors on Thursday: “This is not by chance. It’s how we’ve planned it, communicated it at our recent Investor Day, and then executed. On the Global 7500, we celebrated the delivery of aircraft 100 to VistaJet this past quarter. We continue to have excellent line of sight in terms of upcoming deliveries and the margin they will generate in line with our plan.”

Elsewhere in Q1, the firm’s backlog grew by $1.3bn to $13.5bn, whilst its unit book-to-bill was 2.5 for the quarter. Bombardier delivered 21 jets during the quarter, including nine Global 7500s and the final three Learjets. The firm is on track to exceed last year’s delivery total of 120 aircraft by the end of 2022.

Martel said: “Despite the situation with Russia and Ukraine, we continue to see strong demand and activities worldwide, including Europe. The US continues to be the most significant market for our business, which is why it is important for us to have a strong presence there. This was behind our thinking when establishing Wichita as our US headquarters.”

Bombardier generated $361m in revenue in Q1, which is a 34% more than Q1 2021. “It’s important to note that service revenue also sets a new bar at Bombardier for a single quarter when it comes to serving business jets alone,” said Martel.

The firm reported $173m positive cash flow performance, which is $578m better than Q1 2021. “Needless to say, managing our debt proactively has given us flexibility. We have maintained our commitment to prioritise debt reduction as demonstrated in March, when we completed a $400m debt repayment,” said Martel.