Learjet

Industry analysts this week pointed to signs of a possible acquisition in Learjet’s future. Bombardier financial analyst Cai von Rumohr says the sale of the Bombardier subsidiary is “increasingly possible,” with Textron Aviation as the likely buyer, the Wichita Eagle reports. The speculation comes after Bombardier’s second-quarter 2016 earnings call Friday, in which Bombardier executives […]

Fifty years ago, on Aug. 12, 1966, the Lear Jet 25 made its maiden flight in Wichita, Kansas. It was the last model to fly before Bill Lear, the inventor of ADF, the 8-track cassette and 150 other things, sold the company in the midst of a crushing recession to the Gates Rubber Co. Many […]

A Learjet 36 hit a construction crane and crashed on approach to Grand Bahama International Airport on Sunday, killing a well-known local religious leader and eight others onboard. Dr. Myles Munroe, leader of the Bahamas Faith Ministries, his wife Ruth and other passengers and crew, had been traveling from the Bahamas capital of Nassau to […]

A collision between a Learjet and a German Eurofighter occurred yesterday near the town of Olberg in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The devastating event resulted in the Learjet crashing and apparently killing the two people aboard, according to the Aviation Safety Network. Parts of the Learjet were strewn over a large area, with […]

The FAA has certified Bombardier’s Learjet 75 light jet, a follow-on model to the Learjet 45 featuring new avionics, winglets and more powerful engines. Bombardier noted that the Learjet 75 offers improved takeoff field length performance over its predecessor thanks to its new Honeywell TFE731-40BR engines. The twinjet also features the new Bombardier Vision avionics […]

The moon seemed to take itself so seriously that it paid little attention to us. Though less than a quarter of its full self, it looked down with indifference at our little ship as it hurtled through the cosmos. This lack of concern was a boon, it turned out, for the low moonlight allowed the […]

Machinists at the Bombardier Learjet factory in Wichita voted on Saturday to accept a new labor contract, ending the longest strike in the plant’s history a little more than a month after it started. The new labor deal includes an improved healthcare package, a 4 percent wage increase spread across five years and lump-sum payouts […]

The union representing some 825 workers at Bombardier’s Learjet plant in Wichita called a strike after contract negotiations failed to reach an agreement with the company on a new deal. The current contract, which was negotiated in 2009, expired on Saturday, and workers are not satisfied with the new proposal. It calls for no raises […]

Bombardier is prepping for the start of certification flight testing of the all-composite Learjet 85 as the first of five eventual test airplanes for the program undergoes final assembly in Wichita. Bombardier isn’t saying exactly when the first flight will occur, but with certification and entry-into-service of the Learjet 85 targeted for late next year, […]

Bombardier’s new Learjet 75 business jet came to life for the first time last month on the company’s Wichita production line. Aircraft power, including the avionics, was switched on during the week of August 21 as the aircraft progresses toward a planned 2013 certification, according to Bombardier. As we previously reported, the Learjet 75 is […]