MAJOR SECTIONS of the first Bombardier Global Express long-range business jet will begin arriving at de Havilland in Toronto, Canada, in December. Final assembly will begin in March 1996 and the programme is on schedule for a first flight in September 1996, the Canadian company says.
"The Global Express is no longer a paper aeroplane. It is starting to be metal," says John Holding, executive vice-president of engineering for Bombardier Aerospace Group - North America. The first delivery of a customer aircraft to the completion centre will be in December 1997, he says, one year behind rival Gulfstream V, rolled out on 22 September.
Final-assembly jigs are in place in Toronto and system-test rigs will come on line this month, Holding says. Engineering design will be completed this month, as will critical design-reviews of the first-flight configuration, he adds.
Source: Flight International
