Bombardier Redefines the Super Midsize With Blockbuster Unveiling of Continental

Michael Graff, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft, beamed as brightly as a brand-new father during the firm's confirmation of its new Continental super-midsize business jet project last night at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

No wonder. After one of the longest gestation periods in business aircraft history, Graff has at last taken the wraps off the Continental, Bombardier's latest hatchling.

Although Bombardier won't officially launch the Continental until it has a sufficient number of firm orders, Graff says he's confident that will happen by mid-1999.

Three years ago, Bombardier embarked upon the most meticulous engineering program since British bovine scientists genetically designed Dolly. Bombardier attempted in vain to keep the lid on its New Midsize Business Jet (NMBJ) conceptual design program, but considering the number of executives it surveyed, plus the repetitive focus group meetings and operator advisory group sessions the company convened, it was inevitable that word would leak.

Few outsiders, though, realized that Bombardier was in the midst of redefining the standards for super-midsize business aircraft. The results are indeed impressive.

As shown by the mock-up on the convention floor, Continental will offer double-club seating to eight passengers with heavy-iron cabin comfort, rivaling that of a Gulfstream II or GAC Galaxy. The interior cross section will be 86 inches in width and 73 inches high, with a 61-inch wide flat floor. The overall cabin measures 23.1 feet from the bulkhead forward of the galley to the aft bulkhead of the lavatory. The length of the seated area is 16.5 feet.

Bombardier says that the Continental will be "all-business." There will be a telephone jack at each passenger seat and a 110 VAC electrical outlet (North American customers) to power business equipment at each of the four work tables. The 120-cubic-foot aft luggage compartment is accessible through a door in the lavatory. There will be no inflight restriction to access because the regulatory engine rotor-burst plane is aft of the pressure vessel.

Prospective customers have told Bombardier they want fill-the-seats, fill-the-tanks range/payload performance. Continental, as a result, will have an NBAA IFR range of 3,100 nmi with eight passengers. The new aircraft takes its name from its ability to fly coast-to-coast against 99% probability headwinds.

Just as impressively, its long-range cruise speed will be 0.80 Mach at an initial cruise altitude of 41,000 feet on an ISA+10 degree day. That's equivalent to 487 kt, which is sufficient to fly from Las Vegas to White Plains in just over four hours. Continental will get a new point design, super-critical wing with 27 degrees of sweep at quarter chord, making possible 0.82 Mach high-speed cruise.

The maximum certificated altitude will be FL 450, a flight level that Continental will routinely use on long missions, even on ISA+10 degree days.

With such range/payload performance, Continental will fill the gaping hole in Bombardier's lineup between the 2,300-nmi range, regional mission, Learjet 60 and the 4,000-nmi range, intercontinental mission, Challenger 604. Graff was quick to point out that Continental will have intercontinental range with one stop, should the need arise.

The wing will have a generous 522 square feet of area, which will help to make possible the projected 4,950 foot takeoff field length (sea-level, ISA). The wing actually is larger than that of a Challenger 604, thereby allowing it to hold all 13,700 pounds of fuel. There will be no fuselage fuel tank.

Thrust will be furnished by two AlliedSignal AS907 turbofans, so named because of their 7,595-pound thermodynamic thrust rating. On the Continental, they will be rated at 6,500-pounds thrust for takeoff to ISA+15 degrees. An APU, rated for the full operating envelope, will provide bleed air for engine starting.

The avionics package will include four large-format LCD flat-panel displays, dual FMS primarily using GPS and DME, and dual solid-state AHRS. The components primarily will be linked together by means of a high-speed, aviation-rugged, local area network. ARINC 429 will be used as a secondary link. Although Pro Line 21 displays are installed in the mock-up, both Bombardier and Collins say that the choice avionics provider has not yet been made.

Other systems details aren't so clear. To contain costs, the current plan calls for Continental to have manual flight controls, a conventional, two-channel hydraulic system and a 28-VDC electrical system powered by three sources-the two engines and the APU.

Graff projects that fractional ownership operators will account for 28% of new aircraft deliveries. As a result, Continental is being designed tough, enabling it to thrive in Business Jet Solutions' 1,200-hour per year, fast turnaround, make-no-excuses dispatch environment.

Capping it all, Bombardier has set the Continental's base price at $13.5 million, for the first 30 orders or January 31, 1999, the end of the firm's fiscal year, whichever comes first. After that, the base price escalates to $14.25 million for a completed airplane. Add $600,000 or $700,000 to that price, if you want an interior with the amenities shown in the mock-up.

The bottom line is the bottom line. Bombardier expects the Continental's direct operating costs to be $811 per hour, for fuel, maintenance and engine reserves-far below anything else in the super-midsize class.

By Fred George