Bombardier is launching at this week's National Business Aviation Association Convention in Las Vegas the Learjet 40XR, an improved performance "hot and high" version of the Learjet 40 with upgraded Honeywell TFE731 turbofans.
The new variant, orders for which have already been placed, will be delivered from the first quarter of 2006, says Learjet product planning manager Brad Nolan, who expects the aircraft to be certificated in late 2005. The changes, which are almost all associated with the upgrading of the TFE731-20AR to "BR" standard, will also be retrofittable to "any aircraft we deliver up to that point", adds Nolan.
The initiative has been "driven by the market" he says, and comes on the heels of Bombardier's recent launch of the similarly re-engined Learjet 45XR - the first of which was delivered in June 2004. The change dramatically boosts hot and high take-off performance, allowing for increased range out of high altitude, short runway destinations for current Learjet 40 operators such as Aspen, Colorado and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
"There's been so much interest on the US West Coast to retrofit these engines that we just couldn't resist launching the XR," says Nolan, who says the result is "a night and day difference".
Although generating the same amount of thrust as the -20AR variant, the improved -20BR is flat rated to take conditions in still air up to 25°C (77°F), versus 16°C for the initial powerplant. Maximum take-off weight is also increased, from 9,240kg (20,350lb) to 9,530kg "for people who really want to load up the aircraft ahead of the new [US Federal Aviation Administration] requirement", says Nolan. This requirement will increase the amount of weight per passenger for take-off calculations, and is expected to have a significant impact on operations of some aircraft in marginal conditions.
Bombardier expects retrofits of the existing fleet, which could number up to 25 by the time the first production -40XR is delivered, to occur concurrently with deliveries of the new XR.
GUY NORRIS / LOS ANGELES
Source: Flight International
