De Havilland Canada (DHC) is pleased to announce that the company has entered into an agreement with the Government of Canada and Export Development Canada (EDC) that will allow the company to double De Havilland Canadair 515 (DHC-515) production.
Canada and EDC have agreed to provide up to $2.5 billion in financing that will allow DHC to accelerate production and bring additional aircraft slots to market starting in 2030 and ramping up to double the company’s current aircraft production capacity.
De Havilland Canada will use this financing to hire new staff and invest in additional production capacity across its Canadian sites in Victoria, Calgary, Toronto, Kitchener, and Fort Erie with supply chain jobs being created from Newfoundland to British Columbia.
This commitment will ensure more waterbombers will be produced sooner, and will create thousands of Canadian jobs, strengthening Canada’s ability to build these essential aircraft.
In addition, De Havilland will work with suppliers to the DHC-515 program to accelerate delivery of aircraft components to DHC to facilitate the production of these additional aircraft.
It is anticipated that the transaction will be complete by the first quarter of 2027.