Bombardier has won its vicious trade dispute with Boeing, with the US International Trade Commission having voted unanimously that the US airframe manufacturer’s business was not harmed by the Canadian company’s C Series aircraft.

The decision opens the way for Bombardier’s order for an initial 75 CS100 aircraft from US airline Delta to go ahead, and other deals are also expected to follow in due course following the ITC’s decision, especially as Airbus is now taking charge of the CSeries programme following its deal last year with Bombardier and the ITC’s decision.

The Canadian company stated: “Today’s decision is a victory for innovation, competition, and the rule of law. It is also a victory for US airlines and the US travelling public.”

It added: “With this matter behind us, we are moving full speed ahead with finalising our partnership with Airbus. Integration planning is going well, and we look forward to delivering the C Series to the US market.”

The row had centred for years around accusations of unfair government subsidies being given to Bombardier, allowing it to undercut its rivals. The ITC, however, disagreed and ruled that Boeing was not harmed by Bombardier’s prices. The ruling nullified a US Department of Commerce finding that would have applied tariffs of up to 300% on CSeries sales in the US.

An appeal could still be made by Boeing, which stated it was “disappointed” with the decision and that the ITC “did not recognise the harm that Boeing has suffered from the billions of dollars in illegal government subsidies that the Department of Commerce found Bombardier received and used to dump aircraft in the US small single-aisle airplane market.”

It added: “While we disagree with the ITC’s conclusion today, we will review the Commission’s more detailed opinions in full as they are released in the coming days.”

The trade case has delayed originally scheduled deliveries of the CSeries aircraft to Delta, with the first likely to now be delivered later in 2018 or into 2019.