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In a social media post late Thursday, President Donald Trump said that he would be “hereby decertifying…Bombardier Global Expresses, and all Aircraft made in Canada, until such time as Gulfstream” and its G500, G600, G700 and G800 jets are “fully certified” by Transport Canada — a stunning move that initially seemed poised to impact a huge swath of the U.S. mainline, regional and commercial aircraft fleet, along with business aircraft, helicopters and U.S. military aircraft.
A White House official told The Air Current Friday that the president’s directive would not apply to in-service aircraft, rolling back wording in the social media post. However, the official did not respond to requests for clarification from TAC on whether in-service Bombardier aircraft, as explicitly mentioned by Trump in his post, would be impacted.
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It wasn’t immediately clear Friday morning how the administration plans to execute on a threat to decertify aircraft, which could conceivably mean revoking a model’s type certificate or a pause on issuing airworthiness certificates for individual U.S. registered aircraft made in Canada. Either option introduces numerous legal and regulatory questions, and could impact the sale of Bombardier business jets and Airbus A220-100s, among others.
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