The first Global Express was delivered this past summer to AirFlite, Long Beach, CA, which will operate the aircraft for its parent company, Toyota Motor Sales USA, of Torrance, CA. Two weeks later, the aircraft received approval for entry into service from the FAA and Transport Canada.

Global Express also recently became the first ultra long-range business jet to win European Joint Aviation Authorities type approval. That was followed by Germany's Luftfahrt-Bundesamt, which became the first of 14 regulatory agencies to endorse the JAA approval.

"It is the crowning achievement for the only aircraft designed specifically to fulfill the increasingly global requirements of corporate and government leaders, and for a program highlighted by unprecedented levels of collaboration and support worldwide," Bombardier president and COO Michael Graff said at the delivery.
Several other Global Express aircraft are expected to enter commercial service shortly as production and deliveries continue to ramp up. Orders to date total 105, and more than 20 aircraft are currently being outfitted at Bombardier completion centers in Montreal and Tucson, AZ.

The Global Express will also play an important role in Bombardier's plans to expand its Business Jet Solutions fractional ownership program. A total of 22 Global Express aircraft have been ordered for the program, the first two of which will be delivered in the first half of 2000. They'll enter into the FlexJet program in the third quarter of 2000.

Research conducted by Bombardier indicates a total worldwide market of about 500 ultra-long-range business jets, of which Bombardier expects to sell some 250 Global Express. It needs to sell 100 aircraft to break even.

Global Express comes to NBAA fresh from its victory in the $1.2 billion UK Ministry of Defense Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) program. The Global Express will be the platform for a Raytheon long-range air surveillance radar. The team of Raytheon and Bombardier bested Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, both of which proposed the Gulfstream V as their platform. As many as five Global Express aircraft will be procured under the contract.
"ASTOR is a joint Army and RAF requirement which consists of new, highly effective radar systems installed in a high-flying Global Express business jet," said UK Defense Secretary George Robertson at the time. "It will be a significant step for the British Forces, and indeed for NATO."

The ASTOR victory also makes the Global a leading candidate to win the next major aerial surveillance competitionthe NATO Ground Surveillance System program.

Like its competitor, the Global Express spent its recent months in pursuit of performance records. Records include: New York to Tokyo in 13 hours, three minutes, beating a Gulfstream V record by 18 minutes; Mexico City to Madrid in nine hours, 43 minutes, beating a Falcon 900EX by one hour, 41 minutes; and Hilton Head to Maui in nine hours, 16 minutes, demonstrating its capability to takeoff from very short runways and still meet long-range mission requirements.

"To me, the most remarkable flight was from Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, which has runway only 4,300 feet long, to Maui in Hawaii in nine hours and 16 minutes," said John Race, director of flight operations for Bombardier Aerospace. "This shatters all previous notions of what can be accomplished from challenging airfields."

Performance highlights of the Global Express include flying eight passengers and four crew members 6,500 nmi non-stop at cruise speeds of Mach 0.80 and higher, on routes such as New York-Tokyo, Taipei-Chicago and Sydney-Los Angeles, in about 14 hours. It features a 5,620-foot balanced field length at sea level, and a maximum operating altitude of 51,000 feet. It climbs to its initial cruise altitude of 43,000 feet in less than 30 minutes.

The Global Express features a 48-foot, 4-inch cabin length and 8-foot, two-inch cabin width, allowing for a three-compartment configuration if desired. It also has 6-feet, 3-inches of headroom.
Bombardier's flagship is powered by two BMW Rolls-Royce BR710A2-20 turbofans, making 14,750 pounds of thrust at takeoff. Honeywell's Primus 2000 XP avionics, Laseref III inertial reference system, and weather radar make up the core avionics.