with Airbus Industrie for a series of new airliners for Air Canada, at that time a Canadian crown corporation. Boeing used the DHC purchase to further strengthen its commitment to shared production contracts. The contract was particularly contentious. When Air Canada announced that Airbus had won the contract in 1988, amid claims of bribery, Boeing immediately put DHC up for sale, placing the company in jeopardy. Sale to Bombardier DHC was eventually acquired by Montreal-based Bombardier Aerospace in 1992. DHC was eventually incorporated into the Bombardier group of companies and the Dash 8 remained in production, with a particular emphasis being placed on its quiet operation in comparison to other aircraft of a similar size. This product line was expanded to four models, and the largest is labelled Q400. Purchase by Viking/Longview On 24 February 2006, Viking Air of Victoria purchased the type certificates from Bombardier Aerospace for all the original de Havilland designs, including: DHC-1 Chipmunk DHC-2 Beaver DHC-3 Otter DHC-4 Caribou DHC-5 Buffalo DHC-6 Twin Otter DHC-7 Dash 7 The ownership of the certificates gives Viking the exclusive right to manufacture new aircraft; previously, Viking had purchased in May 2005 the right to manufacture spares and distribute the de Havilland heritage aircraft product line. Despite the transfer of its light aircraft certificates to a new owner, de Havilland Canada has left a legacy of innovative and unique aerospace designs and its products are still flying in considerable numbers worldwide, and it has become a productive member of the Bombardier Aerospace stable. The Downsview plant still turns out civilian propeller aircraft, and the facility maintains thousands of employees. In November 2018, Viking Air parent Longview Aviation Capital Corporation acquired the Bombardier Dash 8 programme and the de Havilland brand from Bombardier, in a deal that was expected to close by the second half of 2019. In January 2019, Longview announced that it would establish a new company in Ontario, to be called de Havilland Aircraft Co. of Canada, to continue production of the Q400 model and support the Dash 8 range. The deal closed on 3 June 2019; the newly formed company inherited an order book of 51 Q400s. Longview did not intend to merge Viking Air and De Havilland. Some 1200 Bombardier staff transferred to the new De Havilland company, which intended to continue Dash 8-400 production at Downsview until a lease expires in 2023 and hopes to