I strongly believe that Bombardier wouldn´t have payed any compensation if SAS was at fault.
Not true at all......this is not a, who is right or wrong issue. BBD's primary concern was to prevent SAS from going with Embraer or ATR. Sometimes you just have to let the customer win so you can continue to do business with them. It's all about the art of reciprocity.
bombardier would have done just fine without this order.
Absolute status is not the issue here. In the long run, relative gains versus Embraer or ATR, are important to the company.
It would have been a huge blow to BBD if SAS would have order E-jets or ATR72s......