Long-range boost for Learjet 40XR, Global 5000

At the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva, Bombardier Aerospace announced an extended-range option for the Learjet 40XR.

By installing a fuel tank modification, an additional 687 pounds of fuel can be added to the stock airplane. This boosts nonstop range at long-range cruise speed (Mach 0.75) to 1,991 nm—15 percent further than now. The option is available for all new 40XRs and for airplanes ordered previously and scheduled for delivery in the third quarter of 2009.

Also getting a long-range boost is Bombardier’s Global 5000. Bombardier Service Centers can now offer a fuel tank capacity and maximum takeoff weight increase via a newly released service bulletin. At the Global 5000’s normal cruise speed of Mach 0.85, modified airplanes can now fly 5,200 nm nonstop, enabling such flights as London-Los Angeles, New York-Honolulu, and Sao Paulo-Paris.

Bombardier’s Global Vision flight deck has made progress, the company reported in other news. Successful “power-on” tests were completed last winter, and all systems performed as expected, said Steve Ridolfi, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft. The Global Vision is an avionics suite based on Rockwell Collins’s Pro Line Fusion system, and it will be offered on the Global 5000 and Global Express XRS long-range business jets. The first flight using Global Vision will be this summer in a Global Express XRS.