Bombardier is returning to NBAA-BACE as a more focused company that is on a stronger footing and has a product refresh in hand. The Montreal-based airframer shed the last of its non-business aviation units earlier this year—it sold its train business to Alstom—and emerged as a pure-play business aviation company.
That sale, which resulted in net proceeds of $3.6 billion, followed a series of other divestitures involving Bombardier's commercial airplane and aerostructures businesses and even its training units. These moves were necessitated by a mountain of debt that was weighing down the company and clouding its future.
Even after the Alstom sale, Bombardier had reported pro forma net debt of $4.7 billion, leading some analysts to question whether its struggles would continue, given its financial position and without diverse businesses to balance each other out. And, at the time, the pandemic appeared to exacerbate the situation with travel restrictions and health and safety concerns making deliveries, sales calls, and a steady supply chain more difficult to achieve.
But Bombardier CEO Eric Martel, who stepped into his role in April 2020, laid out a plan that involved some tough choices, including layoffs and a decision to shutter the company's Learjet line. He also created a disciplined, focused approach to its costs, debt management, and vision.
As it turned out, the timing appeared right. As people stayed away from the airlines, they turned to business aviation for travel. Martel maintained in the second quarter of 2020 that he saw an upside ahead and strengthening of travel. This was right after the pandemic had roiled the aviation industry.
He told AIN that people were skeptical of that view, but he was already hearing encouraging signs from fleet providers. He conceded that he did not expect business to come back this strongly this quickly, but he has not been surprised by the rebound overall.
Martel pointed to studies showing that less than one-fifth of the people who could afford to fly aboard a business jet had been taking advantage of the opportunity. With the pandemic, the move of travelers to business aviation “clearly accelerated” and particularly for the fleet providers, almost all of which have reported bumps in traffic, he said.
All of this has benefited Bombardier (Booth 901, Static A709) and helped it strengthen. While the backlog took a hit during the pandemic—as well as due to a scale-up of deliveries of its flagship, ultra-long-range Global 7500—sales have significantly turned around, approaching a book-to-bill ratio of nearly 2:1 by the end of this year’s second quarter. In addition, pricing has firmed up in the last four to five months, Martel added.
He summed up the second quarter to analysts as “much better, better revenue, better profitability, better cash generation, better service revenue, and perhaps most importantly better aircraft sales.”
With that, the company pushed up its guidance to the higher end of its expectations: 120 aircraft deliveries for 2021. And Martel was encouraged that strong sales would continue. “We are well-positioned with fleet providers,” he noted. This has been a core part of the company’s sales, particularly for its venerable Challenger line, Martel added, noting that a version of the Challenger 300/350 is found with many of the major fleet operators.
Building on that success, especially as the super-midsize field becomes a little more crowded, Bombardier rolled out the latest improvement package for the family, with many additions that reflected travelers' current expectations, such as capabilities for a voice-controlled cabin management system, lower cabin altitude, and the addition of the airframer's high-end Nuage seats. It also named the latest edition the Challenger 3500, tying it closer to the nomenclature of its Global families, and brought the mockup of this model to NBAA-BACE this week.
Martel said the update was being well received—in fact, the manufacturer arrived at BACE with a firm order in hand from an undisclosed customer for 20 Challenger 3500s worth $534 million, its largest single sale year-to-date.
The refresh is important, Martel said, because it sends “a strong message that the Challenger is very important to us.” He added that the new aircraft demonstrates that the company is listening to its customers. “We wanted to preserve that leadership position in that market segment.”
The unveiling of the Challenger 3500 also came as Bombardier made a strategic decision to keep down its research and development spending and advised the analyst community not to expect clean-sheet aircraft in the next several years.
However, as evidenced by the Challenger 3500, Bombardier is continuing its R&D efforts. Martel stressed that the company is in a strong position with its aircraft lineup for now, having brought the Global 7500, 5500, and 6500 to market over the past three years. But it is looking to where it wants to be in the future.
Focus on Sustainability
One key area Bombardier is focused on is sustainability. This was an important part of the rollout of the Challenger 3500, with an Environmental Product Declaration (the first for that category of an aircraft), new sustainable interior options, flight testing using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and an app to help pilots optimize flight plans to save fuel.
The efforts go well beyond the Challenger 3500, though. Martel said Bombardier is spending more on research and development in sustainability areas than any other. This includes looking at new means to power aircraft, including electric, as well as aerodynamic optimization and other enhancements that may find their way into future aircraft.
“There are ways for us, right now, to get a fairly significant percentage of reduction in emissions,” he said. “I cannot say more than that today, but eventually we will. But I have some very interesting things happening.”
While it contemplates the future, Bombardier is focused on delivering on its financial promises to its investors. Since becoming a pure-play business aviation company, it has identified most of a $400 million cost-savings target and by the end of July had paid off three-quarters of its maturities due by 2023. And, it was able to secure $1.5 billion in new debt from bondholders with maturity dates running from 2026 to 2034. Martel said he believes that the improvements in the business jet market helped on that front and that there are now more investors and lenders interested in freeing up financing.
He also disputed contentions that being a pure-play company puts Bombardier at a disadvantage, saying its product line is balanced.
Bombardier made the strategic decision to focus on three areas—large and medium business jets and services. The company is in the midst of a 10-year expansion of services and has seen those revenues grow incrementally as a result.
The company did decide to exit the lower-margin light aircraft segment and shutter the Learjet line, with the last Learjet 75 going out the door early next year. While Martel called it a difficult but strategic decision, he pointed out that other product lines accounted for 90 percent of the revenue. And sales of those product lines weathered the 2008/2009 recession and have been resilient, he noted.
Importantly, Bombardier has worked through manufacturing startup costs with the Global 7500, with the production of the 100th copy underway, and Martel has been encouraged by the strength of interest as backlog has extended two years, and production plans for at least 35 a year for the next few years. Bombardier is set to bring in increasing revenues and more profitability as a result, he said.
