Challenger 300 During the late 1990s, Bombardier Aerospace decided to embark on the development of a super mid-sized business jet that would be positioned between its existing
Learjet 60 and the
Challenger 604.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries opted to become a risk-sharing partner in the business jet's production, as well as being appointed to design, manufacture, and integrate the business jet's new single-piece wing. Taiwan's
Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) was selected to supply the aft fuselage and empennage for the new aircraft. Simultaneously, Bombardier's sale team set about securing commitments from prospective customers ahead of the programme's actual launch. The baseline Challenger 300 was formally launched at the 1999
Paris Air Show, being initially referred to as the
Bombardier Continental.
Type certification and the first deliveries both originally scheduled to take place during 2002. In November 1999, it was announced that the programme was proceeding ahead of schedule, having reached its first production milestone that same month; final assembly was performed in
Montreal, Quebec. In early March 2000, the company stated that 54 orders had been secured for the Challenger 300 since its launch. Even in early 2001, Bombardier was anticipating the aircraft's entry to service during the following year. However, delays were encountered that year, some of which can be attributed to the AS900 engine, which itself was not certified as quickly as had been expected. On 14 August 2001, the first prototype performed its
maiden flight; During September 2002, it was announced that the entry to service date had been pushed back so that design modifications could be implemented. On 31 May 2003, it received
Transport Canada's approval, followed on 4 June by US
FAR 25 certification and on 31 July by European JAR 25 approval.
Challenger 350 The improved variant first flew on 2 March 2013, was unveiled at the next May
EBACE and was due to enter service in May 2014. Hot-section modifications and a
FADEC push gave the
Honeywell HTF7350 7.3% more takeoff thrust at with the same
flat rating, durability and reliability. The
avionics include four Adaptive LCD Displays, Dual
FMS with
LPV and
RNP approaches capability,
SVS, a MultiScan,
Weather Radar, Dual
IRS, dual
SBAS GPS, integrated
EFIS and dual
VHF and
HF radios.