Bombardier and its aircraft interiors partner F/List have opened a facility at London Biggin Hill Airport to display cabin materials, fabrics, and components to clients. The new 700-sq-ft Material Lounge is part of the Canadian airframer’s maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility at the UK airport.
The Material Lounge houses the largest portfolio of cabin interior options at any of Bombardier’s international service centers. The initiative also marks the first time that Austria-based F/List has showcased its array of materials, fabrics, and components outside of its headquarters.
More than 1,300 samples available at the lounge include wood veneers, stone surfaces, leathers, fabrics, webbing materials, and metal finishes. Visitors can also see F/List’s latest portfolio of bio-based materials, including the F/Lab Whisper Leather, Linfinium, and Aenigma products developed to offer sustainable alternatives for business aircraft cabins.
“We are delighted to work with Bombardier on this project and welcome the opportunity to provide a discreet venue for our mutual customers, Bombardier designers, and our own interior experts to see, touch, and explore the industry’s leading collection of cabin interiors in a single location,” said F/List CEO Katharina List-Nagl. “This modern space is more than a showroom and sales tool; it is a place where we can help breathe life into interior design concepts in a dedicated, inspirational environment. In addition to the physical samples, a cabin configurator is being made available to render schematics, material selection, and design ideas in a visual representation of the cabin interior.”
At its Biggin Hill facility, Bombardier provides scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, modifications, and avionics installations for Learjets, Challengers, and Globals. Following expansion work in 2022, the manufacturer replaced a pair of hangars with a combined area of 91,000 sq ft with a new 250,000-sq-ft facility that can accommodate 14 Global 7500s at the same time.