One of Bombardier’s top European executives said at EBACE Tuesday that the company remains positive despite the current financial crisis. “We remain a strong organization and that’s no mean feat in this current crisis. It is a credit to our products and our people,” said Bob Horner, regional vice president aircraft sales. He pointed out the OEM’s strength was underlined by last year’s solid financial results. Aerospace contributed 51% of the manufacturer’s total revenues. “Today we’re in a much better position to deal with challenges thrown at us than we were a few years ago.” He said that widebody aircraft deliveries increased year on year with a strong order intake for the year. He pointed to recent GAMA figures indicating a market share increase of 37 percent.
The manufacturer also offered new program updates at the show. The Global Vision flight deck is on target for first flight in summer 2009. The OEM announced that it had completed power-on tests in winter 2009. The new technology will be available for both the Global Express XRS and Global 5000 jets. The test is a significant milestone. The flight deck’s system computers, its flight software and aircraft systems are powered up to verify functionality and compatibility. “All systems performed as expected,” said Steve Ridolfi, who added that the new technology is an important part of the company’s strategy for Global family. Horner said that the Learjet 85 is still on schedule after Grob filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. “We jumped in quickly after Grob announced it was in trouble and brought the design and manufacturing back in house.”
