AINonline (Aviation International News) reported on Aug. 21 that Bombardier's (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) Learjet 85 program might be delayed further as Bombardier Aerospace gives higher priority to the CSeries and Global 7000/8000. The composites-intensive Learjet 85 is currently the only one of these in active flight test, as CSeries flying was halted in late May due to an engine issue and the Global 7000 and 8000 won’t fly until early next year and 2016, respectively.
According to the report, once the CSeries resumes flight-testing and the Global 7000 flying gets under way next year, managing three flight-test programs simultaneously might not be feasible. J.P. Morgan aerospace analyst Joseph Nadol III told AINonline that the CSeries is the highest profile program at Bombardier, while the Global 7000/8000 have higher margin opportunity.
Business aviation consultant Rolland Vincent said in the report that his latest forecast predicts that the Learjet 85 won’t enter service until at least 2017, about three years later than Bombardier’s previous mid-2014 certification estimate