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Oops, They Did It Again: Bombardier’s Global 7500 Sets Another World Record with GE Passport Engines

October 22, 2019 | by Tomas Kellner
In March, a Bombardier Global 7500 business jet powered by a pair of GE engines set a world record by flying nonstop from Singapore to Tucson, Arizona. The plane, which covered 8,152 nautical miles (9,350 miles) in 16 hours and 6 minutes, landed with 4,300 pounds of fuel to spare — enough to fly for another 90 minutes — according to the Montreal-based plane maker.

Some of that spare fuel came in handy in October, when the luxury jet upped the ante once again by flying from Sydney to Detroit on a single tank of fuel. It pushed the limit for the longest nonstop city-pair flight in business aviation history to 8,225 nautical miles (9,465 miles).

In July, the Global 7500 also became the largest purpose-built business jet to operate from Saanen airport in Gstaad, the famous Swiss ski resort town. The airfield, surrounded by the Swiss Alps, is known for its demanding approach with a relatively short runway.

In March, the business jet set speed records by flying from New York to London in 5 hours and 26 minutes and from Los Angeles to New York in 3 hours and 54 minutes; on the latter flight it sustained a speed of 0.925 Mach for more than two hours.

“Since entry into service, the Global 7500 aircraft continues to go above and beyond expectations, flying farther and farther, setting new benchmarks for exceptional performance and comfort,” said Peter Likoray, senior vice president for worldwide sales and marketing at Bombardier Business Aircraft. “It’s an incomparable advantage for our customers to know that they can travel great distances in style and ultimate comfort thanks to Bombardier’s signature smooth ride.”

Ultimate comfort is the operative word. The sleek plane feels more like a flying palace, with a full-size multifunctional kitchen space, a stateroom with a permanent bed and an option for a shower. It is also the first business jet with a circadian-rhythm-based lighting system in the cabin designed to fight jet lag. It comes with handcrafted Nuage seats designed “to move as you do.”

The Global 7500 is Bombardier’s latest large, long-range business jet. It can carry as many as 19 passengers and fly as fast as Mach 0.925 — close to the speed of sound — thanks to its sleek, light design and a pair of Passport jet engines developed by GE Aviation.

The Passport, which can generate 18,000 pounds of thrust, taps the company’s latest know-how. Its beating heart is a scaled-down version of the engine core developed for the CFM LEAP engine, a new engine that powers ultra-efficient single-aisle passenger jets from the Airbus A320neo family. CFM International, the 50-50 joint venture between GE Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines that developed the LEAP engine, has received orders and commitments for more than 16,000 LEAP units valued at more than $236 billion.

GE Aviation makes the Passport engines at its plant at Strother Field in Kansas.

Top: Bombardier’s Global 7500 business jet is powered by a pair of GE Aviation’s Passport engines at the Paris Air Show in June. Image credit: Alex Schroff for GE Reports.

This story originally appeared on GE Reports.

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GE Aerospace is a world-leading provider of jet and turboprop engines, as well as integrated systems for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft.