Story ID: 674
Nextant Aerospace's Next Act: the Challenger 604
By: Chad Trautvetter
Caption: The 604XT is being announced first as an avionics retrofit package, with more details to come in October about other potential improvements.
Word Count: 514

The Bombardier Challenger is Nextant Aerospace’s next remanufactured aircraft program, company executive vice president Jay Heublein revealed last month at EBACE. However, unlike Nextant’s 400XTi (Beechjet) and G90XT (King Air 90), which were launched as tip-to-tail remanufactured aircraft programs, the 604XT was announced first as an avionics retrofit package, with more details to come in October at the NBAA Convention about cabin, aerodynamic or engine upgrades that would be part of the remanufactured end-product.

According to Heublein, the decision to home in on avionics—in this case a Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion retrofit done in coordination with the avionics manufacturer and Bombardier—is driven by the need to provide a NextGen-capable cockpit upgrade for Challenger 604s in time to meet rapidly approaching mandates, such as Fans, ADS-B out and Link 2000+.

“Many Challenger 604s are being used to fly North Atlantic routes, which means they will have to comply with the upcoming Fans and Link 2000+ mandates to keep flying these routes,” said Heublein. “Considering normal maintenance costs for the Challenger’s CRT-based Collins Pro Line 4 system and these necessary avionics upgrades, we estimate that operators will have to spend about $680,000 over the next three to five years.

“We’re offering the Fusion touchscreen avionics for an introductory price of $599,950, so operators can meet the mandates, eliminate technological obsolescence, and get much more functionality, such as electronic charts and synthetic vision, for a lower cost,” he continued. “That’s kind of the top-end threshold for an airplane that sells on the pre-owned market for only about $4 million, but the Challenger 604 is a still pretty young model and can be operated for decades to come, so the investment will be worth it.”

Looking beyond the urgent need for avionics upgrades, Heublein said that the 360 Challenger 604s in service will be due for heavy structural inspection schedules in the coming years. This combination of a large fleet, avionics obsolescence and approaching heavy inspections made the twinjet an excellent candidate for remanufacturing, he noted.

Other than showing a computer-generated concept cabin for the 604XT, Nextant released scant detail about what will be addressed in the remanufacturing program. The 400XTi and G90XT programs come with complete cabin refreshes, aerodynamic improvements and re-engining, but Nextant has not divulged whether the 604XT will be quite as extensive.

“We’re targeting the 604XT to be a $6 million airplane,” said Nextant executive vice president Mark O'Donnell. “So with a pre-owned airframe value of $4 million and about $600,000 for the Fusion upgrade, any other changes will have to buy their way aboard the 604XT.”

However, he mentioned that Nextant would like to raise the service ceiling of the airplane and address issues with the wing, but emphasized that nothing is yet set in stone. O'Donnell confirmed that the 604XT will come with a new cabin and the Rockwell Collins Venue cabin management system. “We’ll have more to say about the 604XT in October at the NBAA Convention,” he promised.

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