FARNBOROUGH—Bombardier has bolstered its maintenance presence in Europe by adding a new business aviation line station in the UK to service its Learjet, Challenger and Global series business jets.
In an announcement made on the first day of Farnborough Airshow, Bombardier confirmed the establishment of a new station at Farnborough Airport, which is located 35 mi. southwest of London. The Canadian aircraft manufacturer joins Gulfstream Aerospace and Dassault Aviation Business Services in having an MRO presence at Farnborough.
Bombardier says the new location takes its number of line stations worldwide to nine. Its Farnborough site will provide light scheduled and unscheduled maintenance in addition to aircraft-on-ground support. Bombardier says its on-site technical engineers are certified for the three aircraft types.
In addition to its network of nine line stations, Bombardier also operates 10 service centers and 35 mobile response team units worldwide. Its other European line station is located at Paris Le Bourget Airport, where it has MRO capacity for up to three Global 7500 aircraft at a time or as many as six Learjet or Challenger aircraft.
Two of the service centers in its network are in Europe—at Berlin Brandenburg Airport and at London Biggin Hill Airport. In 2022, Bombardier completed the renovation of its Biggin Hill facility where it conducts heavy maintenance as well as modifications and avionics installations across 22 bays. Last month, it also added a material lounge in conjunction with Austrian interiors specialist F/LIST, which allows customers to inspect cabin materials, fabrics and components.
Bombardier is targeting strong growth of its business jet market share. In late May, Paul Sislian, the company’s executive vice president of aftermarket services and strategy, told Aviation Week that the OEM is on course to reach its target of a 46% market share within three years instead of the previous projections of four years. Sislian also revealed that it would explore ways to further grow its aftermarket share beyond the 50% markup to 2030.
U.S. investment bank Jefferies projects Bombardier is targeting aftermarket sales of $2 billion in 2025, which would result in a bizav aftermarket share of around 50% for the manufacturer.
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