Bombardier settles claim with SAS over Q400 turboprops
Last Updated: Monday, March 10, 2008 | 4:12 PM ET
CBC News
Bombardier Aerospace said Monday it has settled claims over incidents last year in which landing gear on some of its turboprop Q400 aircraft collapsed.
The company said the claims with SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Goodrich, the maker of the landing gear, "have come to a mutually satisfactory agreement."
SAS will get about one billion Swedish kronor, or about $160 million Cdn, in compensation. The compensation is reported to be in the form of cash and discounts on aircraft orders.
In September and October of 2007, there were three reported incidents involving landing gear malfunctions on SAS Q400 aircraft.
The airline initially grounded the planes and then pulled them out of its fleet. SAS, the flagship carrier of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, sought more than $70 million in compensation following the incidents.
In conjunction with the settlement, Bombardier said SAS and three of its affiliate airlines — Estonian Air, Norway's Wideroe's Flyveselskap A/S and Latvia's airBaltic — have signed a firm order to buy 27 regional jets and turboprops and taken options on another 24 aircraft.
The value of the firm order for 13 CRJ900 NextGen aircraft and 14 Q400 NextGen turboprops is roughly $883 million US. The value of the orders could increase to approximately $1.75 billion US if all the options are exercised.
Shares of Bombardier slipped two cents to close at $5.28 on the TSX.