Bombardier Aerospace announced today that the conditional order placed by WestJet, an Alberta partnership on June 28, 2012, has been converted to a firm purchase agreement for up to 45 Q400 NextGen airliners. The transaction includes 20 firm-ordered Q400 NextGen aircraft and options on an additional 25 of the aircraft. WestJet’s letter of intent to acquire these aircraft was announced on May 1, 2012.

As previously announced, based on the Q400 NextGen aircraft list price, the firm order is valued at approximately $683 million US and could increase to approximately $1.59 billion US if the 25 options are converted to firm orders.

“We are very pleased that our negotiations with Bombardier have led to the finalization of this purchase agreement,” said Gregg Saretsky, President and Chief Executive Officer, WestJet. “We now look forward to fine tuning our plan to launch our new regional airline in the second half of 2013. We have every confidence that the Bombardier Q400 NextGen airliner is the perfect aircraft for our new venture. It is an aircraft that will serve WestJet and our guests extremely well and we look forward to bringing low fares and our remarkable guest experience delivered by our WestJetters to many new communities.”

“WestJet will be the fifth operator and fourth airline in Canada to put our Q400 aircraft into service, joining approximately 40 other operators around the world who enjoy its operating economics and flexibility, speed, passenger comfort and impressive environmental credentials,” said Mike Arcamone, President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. “The Q400 aircraft is deployed in a variety of markets ranging from typical short-haul turboprop markets to longer-haul jet replacement opportunities.”

Bombardier press release