Bombardier, in Turnabout, Now Says It Will Sell to Other Fractional Firms

Bombardier business aircraft says it's ready now to sell its business jets to companies that compete with the Bombardier Flexjet fractional ownership program.

In having the change of heart, Bombardier has tacitly confirmed that its past policy was to deny aircraft to its fractional foes. "The challenge initially was to get aircraft," explains Pierre Beaudoin, the new business aircraft president at Bombardier Aerospace. "We had problems supplying our own program," he says of the Bombardier fractional ownership business that began operations in mid-1995.

"In the formative period for Flexjet, there was a certain reluctance" to sell to other fractional operators, concurs Peter Edwards, executive VP for business aircraft sales with Bombardier. "It's a more mature program today," he told Show News, indicating that if a Flexjet competitor wants to buy a new Learjet, Challenger, Continental or a Global Express, "We would keep an open mind."

Raytheon Travel Air earlier this year added three used Challenger 601s to its fractional fleet.

-Rich Piellisch