Bombardier Global Express
The Bombardier Global Express is a large cabin, long-range business jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aviation.
Announced in October 1991, it first flew in October 1996, received its Canadian type certification in July 1998 and entered service in July 1999.
Initially powered by two BMW/Rolls-Royce BR710s, it shares its fuselage cross section with the Canadair Regional Jet and Challenger 600 with a new wing and tail.
The shorter range Global 5000 is slightly smaller. The XRS is an improved version of the Global Express and the Global 6000 is an upgrade to the XRS that replaces the older avionics. The longer range Global 5500/6500 are powered by new Rolls-Royce Pearl engines with lower fuel burn and were unveiled in May 2018.
The larger and stretched Global 7500/8000 have longer ranges.
Development
Project definition
After acquiring Canadair along with its Challenger 600 business jet in 1986, Bombardier studied a longer range business aircraft in which it aimed to carry eight passengers and four crew over 12,000 km at Mach 0.85. To meet this goal, a joint-definition team was established at the company's Montreal facility in the early 1990s. By 1994, the team comprised 200 engineers, evenly divided between Canadair and various partners, including Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Anglo-German engine manufacturer BMW Rolls-Royce.These partners independently designed their own elements of the aircraft and shared a stake in the program. The choice of suppliers influenced the aircraft design, with its various systems being selected before the detailed design phase. The CATIA software was used for the kinematics, to feed finite-element analysis software for structural design, and computational fluid dynamics software for aerodynamics, the latter being confirmed by wind tunnel testing.
The new aircraft was designed to use the minimum number of components while still ensuring that no single failure would result in a diversion or the inability to dispatch a flight. Bombardier worked towards a 99.5% dispatch reliability goal. As operators sought a level of safety enjoyed by airline aircraft, Bombardier was influenced to use design rules, such as the incorporation of a maintenance computer to detect, indicate, and isolate faults, although ETOPS rules were not a design requirement. A conventional mechanical flight control system was selected in the new aircraft design instead of fly-by-wire. This was mainly due to the high development expense and customer apprehension of fly-by-wire.
Launch and flight testing
In October 1991, the Global Express was unveiled at the convention. In December 1993, the programme was launched. In June 1994, its high-speed configuration was frozen while the low-speed configuration was established in August 1994. By then, most critical design decisions were taken and almost all suppliers had been selected. In January 1995, the definition phase was winding down before detailed design.By June 1995, the backlog was over 40 aircraft, sold out until 2000, leading to Bombardier to expand its early production plans. At launch, range was extended to to outdo rival Gulfstream. Bombardier guaranteed the empty weight and range to reply to Gulfstream criticism. Around 100 sales were needed to cover the development costs. In October 1995, the first prototype manufacture began. The first sections were expected in December at de Havilland's in Toronto, with final assembly to start in March 1996. By June 1996, the prototype was complete and conducting flight-readiness reviews ahead of its roll-out and first flight.
On 13 October 1996, the first prototype performed its maiden flight from Toronto, one month later than planned, lasting for 2 hours 46 minutes and attaining and. The flight test programme used four prototypes, accumulating 2,200 flight hours. The Bombardier Flight Test Center in Wichita, Kansas was extended by for the test programme. In February 1997, the second prototype made its first flight and the third in May 1997.
In late 1995, type certification was forecast for March 1998. In July 1998, Canadian type certification was granted. European and US approvals followed shortly thereafter. The first 15 aircraft were to be delivered before January 1999. The Global Express entered service in July 1999.
Production
Since 2023, the Global Express has been assembled at the Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario, and formerly at Downsview Airport in Toronto.Since 2012, Japanese aerospace firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has built the wing and centre fuselage sections at its Toronto facility located east of the airport on Northwest Drive, and formerly at 2025 Meadowvale Boulevard from 2007 to 2012. Bombardier subsidiaries involved are Canadair as the design leader and nose manufacturer; Short Brothers in Belfast for the engine nacelles design and manufacture, horizontal stabiliser and forward fuselage; and de Havilland Canada for the rear fuselage, vertical tail and final assembly. The landing gear is produced by Dowty, flight controls by Sextant Avionique, the fuel system by Parker Bertea Aerospace, the core avionics by Honeywell, the APU by AlliedSignal, the electrical system by Lucas Aerospace, and the air management system by ABG-Semca.
In May 2015, production was reduced because of lower demand, caused by slowing economy and geopolitics in Latin America, Russia and China markets. By October 2018, Bombardier had a backlog of 202 aircraft valued at C$14.1 billion, including 128 Global Express aircraft: 67 Global 5000/6000 and four Global 5500/6500.
The Global Express program cost $800 million.
Design
The Global Express is a high speed business/corporate aircraft with a range of at, a service ceiling and a 14 hours endurance.The semi monocoque airframe is made of lightweight aluminum alloys and composite materials.
It has a low wing, tricycle landing gear and fuselage-mounted engines.
The clean-sheet design draws upon the earlier Canadair CL-600 and Bombardier CRJ.
It shares its fuselage cross-section with these aircraft, paired with a new T-tail and wing.
The latter is a supercritical airfoil with a 35° wing sweep and winglets.
This flexible wing naturally attenuates turbulence.
It was initially powered by two BMW-Rolls-Royce BR710 turbofans controlled by FADEC.
The flightdeck features a six screen Honeywell Primus 2000XP EFIS suite.
The Global Express was the business jet with the largest cabin, until being surpassed by the later Gulfstream G650.
It can accommodate 12 to 16 passengers in three cabin sections: mostly a forward four-chair club section, a central four-seat conference grouping and an aft three-place divan facing two chairs.
Most have a forward galley, crew rest chair and crew lavatory.
The 10.3-psi cabin pressurization maintains a 4,500-ft. cabin altitude up to FL 450 and 5,680 ft. at the FL 510 ceiling.
The cabin has an unobstructed length of while the floor is dropped by from the Challenger to increase width at shoulder level, while the windows have been repositioned and enlarged by 25%.
Variants
Global 5000
The Global 5000 was announced in October 2001. It was launched in February 2002, with letters of intent for 15 aircraft with a MTOW, and a range at Mach 0.85.The first aircraft flew on 7 March 2003.
It was introduced in April 2005. There were 224 in service in 2018.
In April 2008, Bombardier lifted its MTOW to to increase its Mach 0.85 range to.
Its cabin is shorter than the Global 6000 with a lower MTOW depending on service bulletins. It has a range at.
The spec basic operating weight is but are actually closer to.
Early models kept the Honeywell Primus 2000XP avionics, updated with the Bombardier Vision flight deck based on the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics since 2012.
It can carry between 8 and 19 passengers. The new seat converts to a full berth. There is an optional private room aft and the galley has room to prepare 16 five-course meals.
It was priced at $40M in 2008. It has forward and aft lavatories. The crew rest area was removed, but could be restored.
The tail fuel tank was removed and fuel is limited in the wings. Some avionics are rearranged to gain usable cabin length. The interior completions allowance is 3,200 kg.
In 2018, its unit cost was US$50.44 million.
At high-speed cruise, it burns of fuel in the first hour, then the second hour and for the third hour.
In 2018, Early models with Honeywell avionics were sold for $10–20 million, while post-2012 aircraft with the modern Cockpit can fetch $22–36 million.
A major inspection every 180 months cost $800,000-1.2 million. Two 8,000h engine overhauls can cost $4 million.
The cheaper and more efficient Gulfstream G450 or Falcon 900LX are slower, have less range and smaller cabins.
Global Express XRS
The improved Global Express XRS was announced on 6 October 2003 during the NBAA Convention at Orlando, Florida. It replaced the original Global Express and provides greater range at high speed, cabin upgrades, improved takeoff performance, fast fueling capability and the Bombardier Enhanced Vision System as standard equipment. A new forward fuel tank in the wing/body fairing increases the usable fuel capacity by up to 1,486 lbs, allowing it to fly 6,500 nm at Mach 0.82, 6,150 nm at Mach 0.85 or 5,450 nm at Mach 0.87. It provides improved pressurization with a 4,500 ft cabin altitude at 45,000 ft and a 5,700 ft cabin altitude at 51,000 ft; a 25% improvement on the previous Global cabin.Global 6000
Bombardier rebranded the Global Express XRS and upgraded the avionics from the Honeywell Primus 2000XP to the new Bombarder Vision flight deck, based on the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics suite, to create the Global 6000. The Global 6000 was announced in 2011 and production started in 2012.Its flexible wing and wing loading, the highest among its competitors, gives a comfortable ride in turbulence. It has improved acoustical insulation compared to its predecessor.
On long trips, its fuel burn is in the first hour, in the second hour, in the third hour and for every subsequent hour.
A Checks are scheduled every 750 hours, and for C Checks every 30 months. Engine reserves amount to $260 per hour.
Over 315 were delivered by March 2019. Its competitors include the Dassault Falcon 8X, the Gulfstream G600 or even the G650.
In 2018, its unit cost was US$62.31 million.