Bombardier, Airbus get exemptions from Canadian sanctions on Russian titanium [Video]

Bombardier on Thursday became the latest planemaker to disclose an exemption from Canadian sanctions on Russian titanium, as Canada defended its decision to grant a partial reprieve from recent measures imposed over the war in Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Reuters first reported that Airbus had won a waiver from a new Canadian ban on Russian titanium, weeks after Ottawa added supplier VSMPO-AVISMA to a list of entities banned for alleged ties to Russia’s military-industrial complex.

Canada is the first Western government to ban Russian supplies of the strategic metal as part of a package to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s Ukraine invasion in February.

VSMPO has for years been a critical supplier of titanium, which is prized for its strength relative to its weight.

Traditional customers included most Western planemakers including Bombardier at a time when it was developing the CSeries passenger jet, which it sold to Airbus in 2018.

Now purely a manufacturer …