The Learjet 85 was a Learjet development program by aircraft manufacturer

Bombardier Aerospace Bombardier Aviation is a division of Bombardier Inc. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. Its most popular aircraft included the Dash 8 Series 400, CRJ100/200/440, and CRJ700/900/1000 lines of regional airliners, and the newer CS ...

. The program was launched on October 30, 2007 and a mockup of the aircraft was unveiled in October 2008 at the NBAA show in Orlando. The Learjet 85 was to fit between the midsize and the super midsize segments of the market. Designed for type certification under

FAR-25 The Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs comprise Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). A wide variety o ...

, it was the first Bombardier Aerospace business jet to feature a composite structure. The plane was intended to have a high-speed cruise of Mach 0.82 and a transcontinental range of up to . On January 15, 2015, Bombardier announced their decision to suspend the Learjet 85 program and cut 1000 associated jobs. On October 29, 2015, Bombardier chief executive Alain Bellemare announced a 2015 $4.9 billion third quarter loss, including the cancellation of the Learjet 85 program.

Design and development

Computer software design tools were used on the project, including

CATIA CATIA (, an acronym of computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) is a multi-platform software suite for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), 3D modeling and Product ...

and HyperSizer, and similar wing technology employed as on the

Bombardier CSeries The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership. It was originally designed by Bombardier Aerospace, Bombardier and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was ...

. Bombardier reported nearly 60 Learjet 85 orders at a price of US$17.2 million (2008 dollars). Flexjet announced it would be the initial launch customer with seven orders in 2011. On October 21, 2010, Bombardier opened a Learjet 85 aircraft component manufacturing facility in Querétaro,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The plant was inaugurated by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 ...

. Some parts of the wing would have been manufactured in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The first test flight was on 9 April 2014. The development was "paused" in January 2015 as the aircraft development was consuming too much money and orders were lacking. The company suspended the Learjet 85 to concentrate on the

CSeries The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership. It was originally designed by Bombardier and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launched on 13 July 2 ...

and Global 7000/8000 instead. On October 29, 2015 the project was cancelled.

Specifications (Learjet 85)

References

External links

Learjet 85 website archives
on

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{{Bombardier aircraft 85 2010s United States business aircraft Abandoned civil aircraft projects of the United States T-tail aircraft Twinjets Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2014