Bombardier introduced Ka-band ultra-high speed connectivity to the business aviation industry last year aboard its long-range, large-cabin Globals, and the Canadian airframer has expanded on that with yesterday’s announcement that it has made the system available as a factory-delivered option on its popular Challenger 650. This marks the first use of the Inmarsat satellite constellation in a medium-category aircraft.
While slower services may be suitable for downloading files and email, the Ka-band system, which will utilize the same service and hardware providers as on the Globals, will provide full content streaming capability to multiple devices onboard. “Ka-band is truly a connectivity revolution in business aviation,” noted Jean-Christophe Gallagher, Bombardier’s customer experience, vice president general manager. “It is 30 times faster than traditional Swift Broadband systems.”
The decision to migrate the system to smaller platforms came after the company evaluated its initial reception among operators. “This is a very sophisticated piece of hardware, so from a price-point standpoint we certainly started with the Global and tested the water,” said Brad Nolen, the OEM’s vice president of marketing. “But what we are seeing now is that on the majority of Globals, the option is being selected and the aircraft are going to be delivered out of the factory with Ka-band. So we’re going to work our way down the portfolio.”
While the manufacturer expects it to be a popular option on the smaller Challenger with its 4,000-nm range, the system's high-speed appeal will vary according to the particular niche of the operator. “If you are an international operator crossing the Atlantic or Pacific, then you would go with the Ka-band option,” explained Gallagher, because of the vast areas of the globe that would receive full coverage only through such a system. “In the previous constellations of satellites, you had empty pockets of non-coverage when you were moving from zone to zone. With Ka-band], there are three satellites with an overlap region, so the handover between the different regions is very smooth.”
As head of the company’s aftermarket support program, Gallagher noted the Ka-band system, which was available for retrofit to older Globals as soon it was offered as a factory-installed option, received much interest from existing operators. Not surprisingly, it will now also be available for retrofit on the Challenger 604, 605 and 650 at any of the company’s worldwide authorized service centers. The system is likely to be scheduled for installation in tandem with major inspection events.
Such aftermarket work will not be limited to connectivity, as the company also is partnering with Rockwell Collins on an avionics update for the Challenger 604. The retrofit will encompass the Pro Line Fusion cockpit adapted to fit the older Challenger, the same system found on the Global. For the Challenger 605, there is already an available upgrade for the Pro Line 21 suite, as equipped on the Challenger 650. Gallagher described the upgrade to the new Venue cabin management system as one of its most popular options on the Global side. “We’ve been talking about how the aftermarket business is a key component of our growth strategy here at Bombardier Business Aircraft, and it will be a key focus for us in the coming years,” he said. “Part of our philosophy in growing this business is to offer state-of-the-art technologies that we would have found traditionally in business aviation only on production airplanes, but to offer these technologies now to the installed base.”
Over the past six months, the company has made many improvements to its global service network, including adding 200 technicians to its service network. In March it announced it has added five new line maintenance stations in Europe, where it has approximately 550 of its more than 4,700 aircraft in operation. This increases the number of worldwide support locations by more than 50 percent. The new centers are located in Linz, Austria (through Bombardier’s acquisition of AAS AirSupport); Nice and Cannes in France; and Milan and Olbia (Sardinia) in Italy. They join nine existing stations authorized to provide scheduled and unscheduled line maintenance and AOG (aircraft on ground) support for Bombardier’s Learjet, Challenger and Global lines. All 14 are linked to Bombardier’s 24/7 Customer Response Centre and the Canadian OEM’s Customer Support Team.
On the eve of EBACE, the company held the grand opening of its wholly-owned London Biggin Hill service center, which will provide heavy maintenance for the network in Europe, joining Bombardier’s existing joint-venture in Berlin with Lufthansa Technik. “You can see how our European strategy is shaping up, with a brand-new service center in London, working in conjunction with Berlin, and with all these line maintenance facilities spread out through Europe that can take care of the day-to-day, and also feed our Biggin Hill facility for heavy maintenance work,” Gallagher noted.
Last month, the company formally unveiled its joint-venture with Tianjin Airport Economic Area (TAEA), a service center at Tianjin in northeastern China that will provide maintenance, repair, overhaul and other services for Bombardier customers in this region. The new 95,766-sq-ft (8,500-sq-m) facility features hangar space, offices and back shops. Opening a few days ahead of the ABACE show in Shanghai, the Tianjin service center received its Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) certification to support the Global, Challenger 604, Challenger 605 and Challenger 850 series. This means the center can perform 96-month inspections for Challenger 600-series jets as well as 120-month inspections for Globals. It will also serve as the manufacturer’s regional parts depot.
Another area of increased interest for the manufacturer is interior completions. “With the focus that we have on the aftermarket, the interiors side is a big part of it,” said Gallagher. “Now we’re very happy to be designing custom interior solutions for airplanes that are currently in service.” To further that capability, Bombardier this month opened a new interiors shop at its Tucson, Ariz. service center, its largest such facility, which accounts for one-third of all the annual maintenance hours in the company’s service network. With the new addition, the complex now offers full tip-to-tail service, with the same capabilities as the company’s completion center, a condition the company expects to see at more of its facilities. More and larger aircraft are arriving at its Fort Lauderdale, Fla. location, which serves not only the southern United States, but also customers from Latin and South America. Bombardier is currently in negotiations with the airport authority for a major expansion of the facility which it hopes to complete by the end of 2018.
Gallagher envisions a scenario where a customer will bring in an older Global to one of the company service centers for an inspection, where it will also receive a full interior upgrade and a Ka-Band install along with the new fiber optic-based cabin management system. In its efforts to bring more of its customers back for aftermarket work, the Montreal-based company has adopted the mantra “we know your aircraft, we value your peace of mind, and we add value throughout the lifecycle of your aircraft.”
