Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau) has announced it will sell its entire Q-Series production line to an affiliate of fellow Canadian manufacturer Viking Air (VKN, Victoria International).

Bombardier said in a quarterly earnings report that it had entered into a definitive agreement with Viking's parent firm, Longview Aviation Capital Corp., on Thursday, November 7.

The sale covers all assets and intellectual property and Type Certificates associated with the Dash 8 Series 100, 200, and 300 as well as the Q400 program operations at Bombardier's Toronto Downsview manufacturing facility in Ontario, Canada. Also included are aftermarket operations as well as rights to the De Havilland Canada name and trademark.

The transfer of the Type Certificates thus establishes Longview as the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and gives it the exclusive right to re-start production for the Dash 8-100, Dash 8-200, and Dash 8-300 lines.

Overall, net proceeds of the sale are expected to be approximately CAD250 million Canadian dollars (USD191 million).

The transaction is expected to close by the second half of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

Once completed, Longview will become North America's largest commercial turboprop aircraft manufacturer.

It is recalled that its Viking Air unit has been a longtime customer of Bombardier aircraft having acquired Type Certificates for seven de Havilland legacy aircraft, including the DHC-1 Chipmunk, DHC-2 Beaver, DHC-3 Otter, DHC-4 Caribou, DHC-5 Buffalo, DHC-6 Twin Otter, and Dash 7, as well as those for its Amphibious Aircraft program which covers CL-215, CL-215T, CL-415 aircraft.

"The Dash 8 turbo-prop is the perfect complement to our existing portfolio of specialized aircraft including the Twin Otter and the Canadair CL 215 and 415 series of water bombers," said David Curtis, CEO of Longview Aviation Capital Corp. "We see enormous value in the de Havilland Dash 8 program, with these aircraft in demand and in use all around the world."

With this latest transaction, and in addition to the sale of a 51% shareholding in its CSeries program to Airbus last year, Bombardier's commercial passenger operations now encompass its CRJ Regional Jet as well as its Business Jet production lines. But even on the Business Aviation front, Bombardier has agreed to sell its business-jet flight and technical training activities to CAE Inc. for USD645 million.