Since Boeing merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, the company has been struggling. Since its inception, the Boeing Company has functioned as a group of engineers, who cared about the safety and quality of their airplanes, rather than the money they could make from them. That changed when Boeing and McDonnell Douglas merged, where the executives from McDonnell ended up becoming the executives of the combined company. With new leadership, and headquarters relocated from Washington to Chicago, Boeing began to deteriorate.

For one, the sheer distance between Boeing's main site in Renton and their corporate offices in Chicago made it very difficult for effective communication. The toxic culture from McDonnell soaked into Boeing, where the engineers faced pressure from management, and all corporate cared about was how much money they could make. This leads to engineers cutting corners and implementing workarounds instead of solving problems (see: 737 MAX). However, a bigger problem was that Boeing stopped playing fair.

The aerospace industry has always been rather competitive, and traditionally, companies competed by building ever better and more efficient products than their competitors. However, Boeing decided that they would play dirty.

An Air Baltic A220-100/CS100. Air Baltic was one of the first customers of the CS/A220.

The flight deck of the CS/A220 features some of the newest available technologies, making operations safer. Photo via Airbus.

When Bombardier began the C-Series program in 2008, they aimed to create an efficient, next-generation airplane that would serve the small mid-range operations market. It was to be bigger than a regional jet, but smaller than say, a 737 or A320. For example, Delta uses it on routes such as JFK-Fort Myers; Detroit to Austin, Seattle to Portland, etc. These are routes where the demand is reasonable, but not huge; it would be very cost efficient to fly the C-Series, rather than a 737 with empty seats.

The C-Series is really a great plane - even the Airbus CEO gave it his approval. Passengers who fly on it enjoy the large windows, large overhead bins (no more gate checks!), and the quiet cabin. The flight deck is fitted with the newest technologies, and the plane itself is very fuel efficient - a key feature for airlines. Boeing knew all of this too.