Bombardier Lifts Lid on New Global Interiors

While Bombardier recently announced a 24-month delay in the programs for its pair of new long-range, large-cabin bizjets, the Global 7000 and 8000, more details are emerging about their interiors.

Tim Fagan, Bombardier industrial design manager for the new Globals, said the design team immersed itself in the aircraft structure details to ensure that basic things such as even window frame spacing (they are set every 36 inches) maximize the flexibility of cabin layouts, and retain popular features from the in-production Global 6000. The passenger cabin windows on the new Globals are 80 percent larger than those on the 6000. “These are things you can do only if you consider the interior way early in product development,” Fagan said. “We designed this airplane from the inside out. The airframe is there to support the requirements of the cabin.”

The new Globals will have an all-new passenger seat design with a forward rocking motion “like you have on your recliner at home.” While carbon-fiber structure is becoming all the rage in aircraft seating, Fagan said the new seat likely will be built mainly of tried-and-true aircraft aluminum. In a first for Bombardier, the company launched an internal, formal research and development program on the new seat before it went looking for supplier partners. “If you don’t get the basic geometry of the seat right, the height of the seat off the floor, the angle of recline and the relationship between the seat pan and the seat back, you can’t upholster your way out of the problem afterwards,” Fagan said.  

Cabin Comforts

A new integrated cabin management and in-flight entertainment (IFE) system will allow passengers to use their smart devices to control all cabin functions such as LED lighting and window shades as well as communication, entertainment and information access and streaming, “just like they do at home” with the same content providers via new high-speed, Ka-band satellite technology. The integrated systems will prompt passengers about preferences related to their activity on the aircraft. For example, once passengers select a movie, the system will prompt them to set the lighting to “movie mode,” automatically dimming cabin lighting and deploying nearby window shades. 

Bombardier says the new Globals will provide a “hyper-quiet” cabin divided into three or four zones; a galley 20 percent larger than the Global 6000’s, with double convection/microwave and convection/steam capabilities; a mid-cabin/self-serve galley; redesigned and larger crew rest areas, windows that give the cabin an airy feel; improved heating and cooling; a center lounge/media room with 42- to 50-inch flatscreen monitors; adjustable color LEDs in the ceiling; a conference/dining table that seats six; private stateroom; optional stand-up steam shower; more robust environmental control system; and a capacious 195-cu-ft baggage hold. 

 “We’re building on our success with the Global 6000 by adding small improvements on the new airplanes,” said Fagan. “When you collect all these small improvements together, we think they will have a significant impact on the passengers.”

Bombardier announced the new Global programs in 2010. This summer the company announced a 24-month program delay; it now plans to start delivering the Global 7000 in the second half of 2018. The first Global 7000 test aircraft is now being assembled. The Global 7000 will fly a maximum of 7,300 nm; the slightly shorter Global 8000 will go 7,900 nm. (Those range numbers assume 10 passengers, four crew and a cruising speed of 487 knots/Mach 0.85.) Top speed for both aircraft is Mach 0.90. Both aircraft use the basic Global 6000 fuselage but stretch it–the 7000 by 11 feet 3 inches and the 8000 by two feet three inches. The Global 7000 has 2,637 cu ft of cabin volume; the Global 8000, 2,236 cu ft. The new aircraft will have full fly-by-wire flight controls, a new thin high-speed wing, more fuel-efficient GE Passport engines (16,500 pounds of thrust each) and the Bombardier Global Vision flight deck derived from the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics suite. Current price is $75 million for the 7000 and $71 million for the 8000.