Looking Back at 2018: Business Aircraft

Pilatus delivered the initial PC-24—the Swiss manufacturer’s first business jet—to launch customer PlaneSense on Feb. 2. The mid-size PC-24 joins the successful single-turboprop PC-12 in Pilatus’ line-up. And U.S. fractional-ownership operator PlaneSense is adding more PC-24s to its still-growing fleet of PC-12s.

Dassault launched the Falcon 6X on Feb. 28 to replace the Falcon 5X canceled in 2017 because of delays to the Safran Silvercrest engine. Slightly larger and longer-range, the 6X will be powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW800 turbofans. First flight is planned for early 2021, leading to deliveries in 2022.

Textron Aviation suspended development of the large-cabin Citation Hemisphere in April, citing development problems with the Safran Silvercrest engine. A decision on whether to restart the program will follow testing of a new high-pressure compressor for Silvercrest planned for June 2019.

When Bombardier revealed the Global 5500 and 6500 in May, the long-range, large-cabin business jets were already in flight test. Based on the Global 5000/6000, with an optimized wing and new Rolls-Royce Pearl engines, deliveries are scheduled to begin at the end of 2019 with the larger, longer-range Global 6500.

The first G500 was delivered to a North American customer on Sept. 14, four years after program launch. An issue involving the engine nacelle supplier impacted deliveries, but this was resolved by Gulfstream buying the nacelle program. Deliveries of the larger-cabin, longer-range G600 begin in 2019.

Embraer unveiled the mid-size Praetor 500 and super-mid-size Praetor 600 in October. Based on the Legacy 450/500 and scheduled to enter service in 2019, they have higher performance and equipment levels and market-leading ranges—the Praetor 500 flying 350 nm farther than the Legacy 450 and Praetor 600 outreaching the Legacy 500 by 800 nm.

Aerion announced in October it had completed conceptual design of its AS2 supersonic business jet, working with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, and had begun preliminary design, aiming for a first flight in 2023. General Electric is developing the CFM56-based Affinity engine, and Honeywell is to provide the flight-deck avionics.

Rebranded the Global 7500 to reflect an increased range of 7,700 nm, exceeding original estimates by 300 nm, Bombardier’s largest and longest-range business jet was delivered to its first customer on Dec. 20. The fly-by-wire aircraft is the first application for General Electric’s Passport turbofan.

Textron Aviation received provisional type certification for the super-mid-size Citation Longitude on Dec. 20, allowing customers to begin flight training in preparation for first deliveries early in 2019. Textron says the approval “paves the way for the program’s final phase of certification,” originally planned for 2017.