Bombardier opens a Wichita training center after expanding its wheel and tire shop, weeks after Trump told the Canadian jetmaker to “build here” or lose access to the U.S. market.
Bombardier opened a training center for newly hired aircraft technicians in Wichita, Kansas, on Thursday, part of about $50 million in investments the Canadian business jet maker announced there.
The Wichita expansion, which also includes a recently expanded wheel and tire maintenance and overhaul shop, comes more than five weeks after President Donald Trump threatened to stop Bombardier’s U.S. sales unless it manufactured in the United States.
“If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank’,” Trump wrote Sept. 7 on Truth Social, according to Reuters.
The U.S. market accounted for about half of Bombardier’s sales, Reuters reported Sept. 8.
The White House gave no immediate response at the time on how the threat would be enforced, Reuters reported. As of Friday, no order putting a sales ban into effect, and no legal mechanism or enforcement date for one, had been confirmed. No White House reaction to the Wichita announcement had been reported.
What Bombardier is building in Wichita
Bombardier said in its Oct. 15 announcement that the roughly $50 million package covers the new North American Learning Center, the expanded wheel and tire capabilities and additional capabilities still to come. The company did not publish a breakdown of how the money is divided among the projects.
The company describes the learning center as its first dedicated in-house facility for developing the skills of newly hired aircraft technicians and mechanics.
Bombardier expects about 250 new hires to go through two-week courses at the center over the next year, Aviation International News reported Friday. Hands-on instruction uses an actual Global 5000 fuselage, according to the trade publication.
The wheel and tire shop handled 2,300 units in 2025 and is expected to process 5,000 this year, AIN reported. According to AIN, Bombardier estimates the shop could handle up to 15,000 wheels and tires a year once fully ramped up, a capacity figure rather than current output.
“Wichita has long been an important part of Bombardier’s story, and we continue to see tremendous opportunity for the site,” Paul Sislian, Bombardier’s executive vice president for Aircraft Sales and Bombardier Aftermarket Services, said in the company’s announcement.
In the same announcement, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, cited Bombardier’s 1,500 existing employees in the state. She identified Wichita as the U.S. headquarters of Bombardier Group and the home of Bombardier Defense.
The Wichita projects center on technician training and component maintenance. Neither involves building aircraft.
Company and Kansas leaders push back
Bombardier answered Trump’s post the same night. In a Sept. 7 statement, the company pointed to roughly 2,800 American suppliers in 47 states and said it spends more than $2.5 billion a year with suppliers.
The statement also highlighted work already done in the United States, including wing production in Red Oak, Texas, and flight-control component production in the Los Angeles area. The company said its aircraft use American-made engines and avionics, and it said it intended to keep investing in its U.S. people, customers and communities.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, said in a Sept. 7 statement that he had contacted the Trump administration to explain Bombardier’s importance to Kansas workers at the company and in its supply chain. Moran said he would work to keep Bombardier’s manufacturing operations in Kansas and expand them.
Uncertainty reaches customers
Aviation lawyers interviewed by Reuters said it was not clear how Trump could block deliveries of Bombardier jets already approved by U.S. regulators.
“It’s creating a lot of anxiety on both sides of the border,” David Hernandez, an attorney with Vedder Price in Washington, told Reuters on Sept. 8.
Hernandez added: “This makes no sense.”
He told Reuters that a client expecting delivery of a Bombardier jet at the end of October had asked him about the threat.
What comes next
Bombardier’s Sept. 7 statement said it planned to inaugurate a facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana, later in 2026. The Oct. 15 announcement still described that service center as upcoming. The company has not announced a specific opening date.
Bombardier said Friday it will report third-quarter results Nov. 5, with a live presentation at 8 a.m. Eastern followed by analyst questions. President and CEO Éric Martel and Chief Financial Officer Bart Demosky are scheduled to present.
Key Takeaways
- Bombardier opened a technician training center in Wichita on Oct. 15 as part of about $50 million in investments that also cover a recently expanded wheel and tire shop.
- The company has not published a project-by-project breakdown, and part of the package covers future capabilities.
- Trump threatened Sept. 7 to cut off Bombardier’s U.S. sales unless it builds in America; no enforcing order had been confirmed as of Oct. 16.
- Bombardier cited about 2,800 U.S. suppliers and existing U.S. production, and Sen. Jerry Moran contacted the administration about the company’s Kansas role.
- Bombardier reports third-quarter results Nov. 5.