For anyone not yet comfortable boarding a commercial aircraft, Bombardier Inc., just may have the solution: a used private jet.
The Montreal-based plane maker announced plans to launch a pre-owned aircraft program on Tuesday, in order to tap into the upcoming travel boom the industry is banking on.
“As life gradually begins to return to normal, the supply of business jets across the industry has been outpaced by demand,” said Chris Milligan, Bombardier’s vice president of pre-owned aircraft services, in a release.
“A Bombardier Certified Pre-owned aircraft provides buyers with the highest quality pre-owned product, equipped with the latest safety and cabin enhancements – while providing the new aircraft delivery experience customers are looking for.”
A spokesperson for Bombardier declined to outline roughly what the cost of a pre-owned jet would be, but added that pricing will vary on model, upgrades and refurbishments.
For reference, the company’s most popular jet, the Challenger 650, sells for roughly US$32 million brand new, according to industry tracker Business Jet Traveler. The lesser Learjet 70 retails at roughly US$11 million.
While demand and pricing for pre-owned jets isn’t exactly clear, it could become a new revenue stream for Bombardier, which is now completely out of the commercial jet and rail businesses, having sold off those two units in order to focus on private jets.
Earlier this year, Bombardier shares climbed back above the $1 threshold for the first time since Feb. 2020, and are up more than 190 per cent year-to-date.
Last week the stock got a boost after the company announced it received an order for 10 jets from an existing customer in a deal valued at up to US$451 million.
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