Gallery: Flying Colours Transforms A Challenger 850

Credit: Flying Colours

Flying Colours Corp has finished refurbishing a 20-year-old Challenger 850 business jet at its facility in Peterborough, Ontario. The work for a multi-aircraft U.S. charter operator included a new contemporary interior with fully reconditioned and re-upholstered cabin seats, an upgraded lavatory, a 96-month inspection with associated repairs, and a dramatic new exterior paint scheme.

“This type of refurbishment is one we are very familiar with,” says Eric Gillespie, Flying Colours executive vice president. “We know Bombardier aircraft very well and have worked on CL850s for decades.”

“The need to strip an aircraft right back to its airframe and then create a new customized look and feel inside and out is what we do best.”

Credit: Flying Colours

“We bring expertise, the right technical skills and imagination, to breathe new life into a tired airframe,” says Eric Gillespie, Flying Colours executive vice president.

The now-discontinued Challenger 850 was based on Bombardier’s CRJ200 regional jet.

“For owners that want this large size cabin and have range requirements of up to 2000 nm., this is a great option for the investment,” Gillespie says.

Credit: Flying Colours

Interior components to be refurbished included seats, divan, carpet, and lav.

Credit: Flying Colours

“As the team stripped it back to make the transformation, the reality of the canvas became apparent so various parts needed repairing before refurb,” Flying Colours says.

Credit: Flying Colours

The Challenger 850’s seats underwent a complete overhaul. “It was a ‘diamond’ job as you can see from the seats, side ledge, divan and the carpet,” the company says.

Each seat was recovered by Flying Colours upholsterers who hand-stitched the quilted diamonds. The three-panel back of each seat took extreme care, the company says, to ensure each panel was exactly the same. On the side ledge, the diamonds were sewn into the same leather.

The light leather is called Moonstone, and the charcoal grey on the back of the seats is called Thunder Cloud.

Credit: Flying Colours

On the floor of the refurbished cabin, a Flying Colours-designed carpet continues the diamond theme of the seats. “Great care” was taken for the size of the diamonds, the space between the diamonds, and for continuity where the cabin transitions from single seat through to club-four seating, the company says.

“There is no half diamond showing on the floor, [as] the distance from the club four to the first diamond is the same as the gap between the diamonds.”

“It was a challenge to ensure that these diamonds complemented rather than contrasted with the diamonds on the seats,” the company says.

Credit: Flying Colours

The Challenger 850’s new carpet in the galley area. In the lavatory, Flying Colours refurbished the vanity cupboard, the baggage door, and the party seat.

The Challenger 850 refurb also saw installation of a Gogo Avance L3 system for internet connectivity.

Credit: Flying Colours

The venerable Challenger 850 prepped for a new exterior paint job at Flying Colours’ Peterborough paint shop.

Credit: Flying Colours

“A number of airlines are parking CRJ200 aircraft and looking to sell, and we have customers looking to buy,” Flying Colours says. “As the 850 program is now paused, it is hard to compare economics with anything else out there… that is part of the reason that we are asked for this particular refurb.”

The company notes that it holds an STC for auxiliary fuel tanks for the Challenger 850, although this particular customer did not request the extra range.

Flying Colours’ Eric Gillespie, executive vice president, notes too: “Supply chain has been a challenge for everybody over the last few years but we have adapted and modified our capabilities to overcome and anticipate supply chain choke points so that we can minimize potential delays.”