Bombardier turnaround on track as it puts Boeing battle behind it

A Bombardier C-Series plane. Photo / AP

The turnaround at Bombardier appears to have taken flight with the Canadian manufacturer reporting a sharp improvement in cash flow last year.

Toronto-listed Bombardier, which makes planes and trains, generated free cash of uS$531 million ($717.4m) in 2017, a 288 per cent jump year on year.

Boosting free cash - the amount left over after the company covers its costs - is a key goal of chief executive Alain Bellemare, who was brought in to reverse the company's fortunes in 2015, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Bellemare hailed a "very strong performance" in 2017, the second year of his five-year plan, saying: "We begin 2018 with great momentum. Our operational transformation is in full motion."

Revenue was flat at US$16 billion while net losses narrowed to US$553m, from US$981m. Earnings before interest, tax and other one-off items rose 57 per cent to US$672m.

Bombardier received a boost last month when it unexpectedly won a ruling at the US International Trade Commission, which found against rival Boeing's demands that it impose swingeing tariffs on sales of the Canadian company's C Series jet.

The US had threatened to slap import duties of 300 per cent on the C Series, after finding merit in Boeing's complaint that the plane had benefitted from illegal state subsidies.

But publishing the details of its ruling earlier this week, the ITC said that "Boeing lost no sales or revenues" from the C Series. It found that the 110-seat C Series does not compete with Boeing's smallest 737 MAX 7 plane.

The dispute had threatened to turn into a diplomatic row, with both the Canadian and UK governments highly critical of Boeing's actions. The wings of the C Series are made at Bombardier's plant in Belfast, where it employs 4,000 people.

Alongside the C Series, Bombardier has high hopes for its Global 7000 business jet, which will enter into service this year.