10:45 - October 12, 2017 - Quebec, Canada

Welcome to a new contributor to Fliegerfaust, Thunderbird! I'm sure you will appreciate his articles. Here is his first one.

Boeing Pulled out of two Canadian Aircraft Factories

In the early 1990s, the Boeing-owned de Havilland Canada aircraft factory at Downsview Airport in Toronto was laying off employees and in danger of closing. Bombardier Aerospace (51%) and the Ontario Government (49%) stepped forward to buy the factory from Boeing and invest in the development of two new innovative aircraft designs - the Q400 turboprop airliner and Global Express business jet - to rejuvenate the factory, create good paying jobs and increase Canadian exports.

Today, more than 565 Q400s airliners and 765 Global business jets have been delivered to customers around the world, valued at more than $55 billion.

Then, when the Boeing 717 airliner program was cancelled in 2005, Boeing laid off 23 percent of its Canadian workforce when it closed the 717 wing factory at Lester B Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

n the mid-1960s, de Havilland Canada won a contract from Douglas Aircraft to build the wings and other parts for the new short-haul DC-9 at Toronto Airport. McDonnell Douglas took over the factory and this is where all the wings were made for the short haul DC-9 and MD-80, long-haul DC-10 and MD-11 passenger jets and KC-10 military tankers assembled in Long Beach, California. Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas in 1997 and renamed the MD-95 the Boeing 717. When Boeing cancelled the 717, it also exited the 100-seat passenger market in favour of the larger capacity Boeing 737.

Read also: How Much Business $ Boeing Gets From Canada? Ah!!!

The Toronto airport factory employed Canadian workers for almost 67 years until it was closed by Boeing. The plant was first opened in 1938 by National Steel Car Aircraft Division when Malton Airport (now Toronto Pearson) was under construction. During the Second World War, it employed 10,000 people - about 30% women - building Avro Lancaster bombers, Avro Anson trainers and Westland Lysander observation aircraft and in 1946 it became the home of Avro Canada which developed the famous C.102 Jetliner - North America's first jet transport, CF-100 all weather interceptor (powered by a Canadian Orenda jet engine) and supersonic Avro Arrow.

After the Boeing 717 was cancelled, Boeing demolished the historic Toronto Airport factory and sold the land to the Greater Toronto Airport Authority.

Then in 2006, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries opened a new aircraft wing factory adjacent to Toronto Pearson airport and transferred wing production for the Bombardier Global family from Japan to Toronto to be closer to its customer. Many of the skilled workers Boeing laid off when it closed its Toronto plant in 2005 found new jobs at MHI building wings for the Bombardier Challenger 350 business jet assembled at the Bombardier plant in Montreal and for the Global 5000 and Global 6000 assembled at the Bombardier plant in Toronto.

1985 - Canada sells de Havilland Canada to Boeing
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-12-03/business/fi-12923_1_boeing

1992 - Bombardier buys Boeing factory
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/23/business/company-news-bombardier-agrees-to-buy-de-havilland-from-boeing.html

2005 - Boeing Shuts Toronto Wing Plant
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/boeing-to-shut-down-toronto-plant/article18213742/

2016 - MHI Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Mississauga Aircraft Wing Plant
https://www.mississauga.com/news-story/6512961-malton-manufacturer-reaching-for-the-sky-in-celebration-of-10th-anniversary/

Thunderbird

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