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Bombardier revving up plans for all-composite Learjet 85 despite slow business jet market

Bombardier (TSX:BBD.B) says the development of its new Learjet 85 is progressing as planned, despite challenges in the overall business jet market.

The world’s third-largest aircraft manufacturer said it has achieved many key milestones as it prepares to enter the plane into service in 2013.

The Learjet 85 will be Bombardier’s first jet made exclusively from lightweight composite materials and the first such business jet designed for certification under the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

"We have completed over 60 significant program milestones as proofpoints to our progress," said program vice-president Ralph Acs.

He said Bombardier has firm agreements with all major suppliers and plans are progressing as planned for facility expansions in Wichita, Ka., and Mexico.

A second version of the concept fuselage has been completed along with successful wind-tunnel testing, said the Montreal-based company’s aerospace division.

Bombardier said it is focused on strengthening its leadership in the business jet market by introducing new products, such as the Learjet 85, despite enduring production curtailments and layoffs.

While it has maintained its program, Cessna last week scrapped its Columbus jet because of economic uncertainty.

Waning demand for business planes has forced manufacturers to lay off thousands of employees as they reduce production to match lower demand. Bombardier has announced 4,360 employees will be laid off in Canada, the United States and Northern Ireland.

The company has trimmed its 10-year industry forecast for business jet deliveries by nearly 15 per cent from last year because of the global economic slump.

With its varied product line, Bombardier typically captures more than half the business jet market.

The company has received 60 firm orders for the new mid-size business jet and is proceeding with plans to ensure it can enter into service as planned.

Meanwhile, Bombardier wouldn’t comment specifically on recommendations from the U.S. National Safety Transportation Board resulting from last year’s crash of a Learjet 60 that killed four and injured former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.

Investigators examining the fiery wreckage found that the thrust reversers – devices on the back of jet engines that divert their thrust forward, helping to slow a plane or force it backward – were not in the right position.

Changing the design of the thrust reversing system on the Learjet 60 to make its operation more intuitive could potentially help avert such deadly crashes, the NTSB wrote as one of its six recommendations.

"Right now we’re just reviewing the recommendations," spokeswoman Haley Dunne said in an interview.

Analyst Cam Doerksen of Versant Partners said it’s still early to determine how successful the Learjet 85 will be, even though the economic slowdown is affecting all business jet orders.

"It’s an aircraft that’s going to be in production for a long time so no business jet manufacturer is making a decision to build or not build a plane based on a three-year time horizon," he said in an interview.

While there are indications the market isn’t worsening, Doerksen said there aren’t many signs of improvement. There’s still large used aircraft inventories and manufacturers have newly built planes to sell.

"We’re a long way from seeing any kind of rebound in orders and deliveries. I think it’s going to be several years."

The Learjet 85′s main structural manufacturing and pre-assembly will be done in new buildings in Mexico, while a site expansion in Wichita will assemble the aircraft.

The plane’s outside mould has been finalized and detailed design is set to start later this year.

Bombardier said the Learjet program is benefiting from "best practices and principles" from the CSeries aircraft program regarding the composite wings. The CSeries 110-to 149-seat commercial jet is also expected to enter into service in four years.

Launched in October 2007, the Learjet 85 will be Bombardier’s first jet made exclusively from lightweight composite materials and the first such business jet designed for certification under the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

The aircraft is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada engines. It will have a range of up to 5,556 nautical kilometres and travel at a cruising speed of Mach 0.82.

Bombardier shares gained four cents at $3.63 in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.