Challenger Not, Bombardier’s

Summary

Bombardier’s Challenger super-midsize jets, especially the 3500 model, are seeing remarkable demand from private jet operators for their fractional and jet card programs. Companies like Thrive Aviation, AB Jets, Vista Global, and Airshare are significantly expanding their fleets with new Challengers, while others like Wheels Up and FlyExclusive are refurbishing pre-owned models to enhance reliability and efficiency. Operators praise the Challenger’s high utilization, dispatch reliability, and coast-to-coast capability, often replacing less dependable aircraft. This popularity has led to increased revenue for operators and waitlists for Challenger services, solidifying its position as a preferred choice in the competitive private aviation market.

Canadian private jet maker Bombardier is continuing to rack up an impressive list of private jet operators that have selected its Challenger super-midsize aircraft platform for their jet card and fractional flight programs. That includes a pair of new programs announced in recent weeks and another that will take flight early next year. New versions sell for around $27 million.

This week, Las Vegas-based Thrive Aviation, backed by an investment from Honda Aircraft Company, said it had chosen the Challenger 3500 for its nascent fractional offering to complement the HA-420, a very light jet from the Japanese conglomerate. Thrive, which has already taken delivery of its first Challenger, said it expects to add two to four per year.

In August, Memphis-based AB Jets with three Challenger 3500s in service, launched a jet card dedicated to the aircraft and revealed it had ordered two more.

Bond, a start-up fractional that will take flight next year, selected the Challenger 3500 as the super-midsize aircraft in what is now a $5 billion commitment to the Canadian OEM.

While for AB Jets the Challenger offers more range and seating capacity from its fleet of midsize Learjets, for Bond the super-midsize aircraft are an entry point to its ultra-long range Global aircraft from Bombardier.

Bombardier recently celebrated the 200th delivery of the 3500 version. That airplane went to Piero Ferrari, the automaker’s vice chairman. However, the biggest appeal is with private jet companies that operate large charter and fractional fleets.

Flexjet Chairman Kenn Ricci, in a social media post last year, said, “When Bombardier introduced the original Challenger 300 in the early 2000s, they really hit a home run in terms of coast-to-coast capability and reliability – it’s one of the finest super-midsize aircraft available for coast-to-coast travel.”

According to AMSTAT, 429 of the 3500’s predecessors, the Challenger 350, are currently in service, along with 447 of the original Challenger 300, which entered commercial service in December 2003.

Ricci notes, “These aircraft were particularly designed for high utilization, and we’ll fly these aircraft 1,200 hours a year.” The most recent FAA data shows Flexjet with 86 of the various versions on its operating certificate. Rival NetJets has 94.

Earlier this year, Vista Global, a longtime Bombardier customer, said it would add to its fleet of midsize Challengers with a firm order for 40 of the current 3500 version and options for up to 120 more.

When Kansas City-based Airshare, among the 10 largest U.S. private jet operators by fractional and charter flight hours, decided to expand nationally in 2021, it chose the super-midsize Challenger platform. When it added four firm orders with 16 more options in 2023, its CEO John Owen said, “The response we have received to the Challenger entering our fractional program has been tremendous from both new and existing customers.” FAA data shows it currently has 48 on its two operating certificates.

Executives say the dispatch reliability of the Challengers is critical for operators of guaranteed jet card and fractional programs where customers make up their own routes and schedules sometimes as little as 10 hours before departure time. Yet not all operators are building their Challenger fleets by ordering new airplanes directly from Bombardier. Both Wheels Up and FlyExclusive have been acquiring pre-owned Challengers and then refurbishing them.

Wheels Up spent an extra $5 million last quarter to complete its fleet renewal plan (which also includes moving to Embraer’s Phenom 300 light jet) 18 months ahead of schedule. Its CEO, George Mattson, says the airplanes have helped the Delta Air Lines-backed private jet company achieve “record levels of operational reliability.” FlyExclusive Chairman and CEO Jim Segrave has said the dispatch rate for the old fleet was in the low 30% range, meaning it was offline for maintenance about 70% of the time.

In its most recent earnings call, Segrave said of its fleet renewal program, which includes Cessna Citation light and midsize jets alongside the Challengers, “In two years, we have increased second-quarter revenue by more than 40% while reducing the number of aircraft required to produce that revenue by approximately 15%.” He said the aircraft being replaced “consumed maintenance resources, pilot resources and working capital while producing unacceptable financial returns.” Each Challenger, he says, adds $10 million of profitable revenue.

Two other top 15 operators, Nicholas Air and Northern Jet, feature the Challengers in their jet card and fractional programs. However, the Challenger’s popularity isn’t limited to operators with fractional and jet card programs. Baker Aviation, the 10th-largest U.S. operator based on fractional and charter flight hours, focuses exclusively on the wholesale market. Last year, it inked a deal to acquire 20 Challenger 300s from Flexjet, which it is refurbishing and adding Starlink WiFi.

Of course, Bombardier has plenty of competition. Last year Flexjet signed $7 billion in firm orders with Embraer for its Praetor 600 super-midsize jet, the midsize Praetor 500 and Phenom 300 light jets. It also inked a deal with Gulfstream to be its exclusive fractional for the G500 and G700. NetJets has options for 250 Praetor 500s and 1,500 jets from Textron Aviation dating to 2023, including its Latitude and Longitude super-midsize jets.