The government of the Canadian province of Québec has written off around CAD400 million Canadian dollars (USD285 million) from its investment in the Airbus Canada (ABK, Montréal Mirabel) A220 programme, acknowledging that the province is unlikely to recover half the funds it injected into it in 2022 and 2024.
The loss was recorded in the latest public accounts. Québec’s economy minister, Christine Fréchette, said the programme’s short-term benefits are lower due to the imposition of tariffs and delays in its supply chain, Radio Canada reported.
The province also told the broadcaster that its investment “is worth half” of the approximately CAD800 million (USD570 million) invested between 2022 and 2024, despite the manufacturer seeing adequate sales for the aircraft family, which is composed of two types, the A220-100 and the A220-300.
Airbus Canada ownership consists of a 75% stake held by Airbus and 25% by the Government of Québec.
In total, the Canadian province has injected over CAD2 billion (USD1.43 billion) into the A220 programme (formerly known as Bombardier Aerospace’s C Series before Airbus acquired it for USD1 in 2017). In 2020, Québec’s prime minister, François Legault, acknowledged that the province had lost CAD1.3 billion (USD927 million) in funding granted to Bombardier under the previous administration of Philippe Couillard.
However, the province doubled down, investing CAD380 million (USD271 million) in Airbus Canada in 2022 and another CAD413 million (USD295 million) in 2024, with hopes of recovering its investment in 2030. Former economy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon said: “If we had not reinvested, the government’s share in the A220 programme would have been practically eliminated and the chances of making our participation profitable would have been practically non-existent."
In a statement, Airbus told ch-aviation: "These amounts refer to the Government cash reinjection in the Airbus Canada Limited Partnership announced in 2022 and 2024. These investments were in line with the expected A220 cash impact, before the breakeven point expected when we produce 14 aircraft per month in 2026. The A220 ramp-up is obviously taking place, since we delivered a record of 75 aircraft in 2024, and previously, 68 aircraft in 2023. As of the end of September 2025, we have already delivered 62 A220 aircraft - for a total of 450+ A220 aircraft delivered."
According to ch-aviation data, seventy-one A220-100s have so far been delivered, with orders for 41 more, while 379 A220-300s have been delivered with orders for 445 more.
