Bombardier's Here with New Airplane And New Business Aircraft President

This was and is an NBAA not be missed for Bombardier Business Aircraft, which is here in New Orleans not only with a brand new jet, the super-midsize Continental, but a new unit president in the person of Peter Edwards. He succeeds Bombardier scion Pierre Beaudoin, who's moved on to head all of Bombardier Aerospace.

The New Orleans debut of the Continental was planned for September, as the $14.675 million aircraft made its maiden flight on August 14. Bombardier claims more than 115 orders for the new eight-passenger airplane, 25 of them from its own Flexjet fractional ownership program.

Deliveries of the 3,000-nautical mile, .80-Mach Continental are to commence next year following third-quarter certification. Service entry is planned for June 2003.

Edwards was named bizjet boss at Bombardier at the very end of November. He's been with the company since 1995, applying 16 years of aerospace experience to the marketing and international sales VP slot before being named executive sales VP. As president, he'll focus on customer relationships, Bombardier says.

Besides the Continental, aircraft being promoted here include the even newer Global 5000, a shortened version of the flagship Global Express; the Global itself, for which faster completions are promised; Bombardier's workhorse Challenger 604 with new avionics features; and the current trio of Learjets: the 31A, 45 and 60.