New Learjet 40 to replace Learjet 31A

Bombardier Aerospace will end production of its 11-year-old Learjet 31A following two years of declining sales, and the new Learjet 40, scheduled to enter service in early 2004, will become the “cornerstone of our light jet offering,” said officials. The Learjet 40, officially launched at the Farnborough Air Show in July, is a truncated (by 2.5 ft) six-seat version of the company’s Learjet 45. At an equipped price of $6.75 million, the Learjet 40 takes square aim at Cessna’s $7.56 million Encore, which has been selling better against the Learjet 31A. Bombardier declined to give the number of orders it has so far taken for the Learjet 40, saying only that the “order book is very good.”