Bombardier Marks Milestone Supersonic Global 8000 Flight

Bombardier is marking the fifth anniversary of breaking the sound barrier with its Global 8000—the first purpose-built business jet officially recognized as having accomplished that feat—as the aircraft begins to enter service around the world.  The Global 8000 reached Mach 1.015 in a shallow dive during flight testing on May 18, 2021.

While the intent wasn’t to bring the first supersonic business jet to market, the milestone was necessary to achieve certification of the model, the follow-on to the Global 7500, at high subsonic speeds. As a result, the Montreal-based manufacturer was able to certify the Global 8000 at Mach 0.95, making it the fastest business jet to reach the market.

The Global 8000 received Transport Canada approval on November 5, followed by the FAA on December 19 and EASA on January 23. The first new-build example entered service in December.

Bombardier completed the transition from the Global 7500 to the Global 8000 on the production line year-end with the first new-build of the speedier successor model entering service in December.  Company president and CEO Éric Martel told analysts during the most recent quarterly financial call that the transition to the new model went smoothly.

Vista Upgrades Fleet

In addition, a retrofit Global 8000, upgraded from the Global 7500, also entered service in April with Vista. Vista has committed to incorporating the retrofit kit on all 18 of its Global 7500s, thus turning them into 8000s, by the end of the year. Noting that the installed base of Global 7500s exceeds 200 aircraft, Martel was upbeat about that retrofit market. “The majority of the customers want to upgrade their 7500s to 8000s, so our service centers are pretty busy right now doing that,” he said.

Along with the retrofits, Bombardier has seen significant demand for the new-production model, which it credits this help boosting its overall backlog to $20.3 billion by the end of March.  This was a $2.8 billion jump.  And, the company brought in a book-to-bill of 3.6:1 in the first quarter of the year.

“The Global 8000 is selling as fast as it flies,” Martel told investors. “Demand remains strong across our customer base and product portfolio, particularly for our industry flagship Global 8000.”

Bombardier has found success in particular with fleet customers. Fleet launch customer NetJets took delivery of its first copy in April, and Bombardier also that month announced that start-up Bond had exercised options for 24 of the model as part of a $5 billion package for Globals and Challengers.