Trade battle resolved, Delta expects to fly C Series jets by early 2019

• Boeing lost a case that alleged the planes were sold below cost to Delta.
• Bombardier's jets had experienced slow sales and the loss of Delta could have been painful.
• Airbus last fall agreed to take a stake in the C Series program.

Delta Air Lines expects to take delivery this year of dozens of Bombardier jets that were at the center of a bitter trade dispute with Boeing.

On a call with investors after it posted first-quarter earnings, Delta said that it plans to take delivery of some of the C Series planes, which seat some 100 passengers, in the fourth quarter and that they will be flying by early 2019.

The planes were hard-won. Boeing lost its trade case against Canada's Bombardier earlier this year, a surprise loss for the world's biggest airplane manufacturer. Boeing said Canada's Bombardier sold the planes to Delta below cost and received illegal government subsidies. It said the company's practices harmed its business.

Delta agreed to purchase at least 75 of the Bombardier planes, which have sold poorly in general, in 2016.

The U.S. International Trade Commission's January ruling in Bombardier's favor effectively blocked a Trump administration recommendation of tariffs of nearly 300 percent.