https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2021/february/11/learjet-to-end-production-run?utm_source=ebrief&utm_medium=email Iconic to say the least.
Sad, though I thought Bombardier sold their interest in the C single aisle to Airbus, now the A220, and were exiting commercial aviation.
Learjet had a string of penny-pinching owners over the years, so it's not surprising that it's reached the end of the road. My experience is all with the legacy Learjets (20/30 series) but from what I have heard, the 45 series is a pretty darn good airplane.
Learjet’s Fall From Luxe to Loser Reflects Rising Bar for Swank February 13 2021, 6:30 PM (Bloomberg) -- Bombardier Inc.’s decision this week to pull the plug on the Learjet ushers in the end of what once was the ultimate symbol of success, whisking the powerful and the prominent across the skies. Despite spending three decades and billions of dollars, efforts toward resuscitating the fading brand were simply no match for deep-pocketed rivals and an ever-rising bar for what defines luxury transport. “This has been a long-time coming,” said Rolland Vincent, a private-jet industry consultant based in Plano, Texas. “It’s been on life support for a few years.” Bombardier will halt production toward the end of this year, closing the book on a small jet born almost six decades ago. The shutdown will save the Montreal-based planemaker $400 million a year by 2023 as it focuses on the larger, more lucrative private jets in its paddock. Modeled by inventor Bill Lear on a Swiss fighter aircraft, the Learjet soon became the chic ride for board chairmen and the Chairman of the Board. The Learjet so exemplified the message “I’ve made it” that James Brown posed with one on a Los Angeles tarmac, while Pink Floyd’s “Money” and Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” used it as a stand-in for success. Image Unavailable, Please Login In 2009, though, the Learjet ran into stiff competition from the Phenom 300, a light jet produced by Brazil’s Embraer SA. The 300, and its smaller sister the Phenom 100, won over buyers with competitive prices and, perhaps most crucially, the need for only one pilot. Japan’s Honda Motor Co. jumped into the fray in 2015 and, a few years later, so did Switzerland’s Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. Celebrities and the well-heeled moved on from the diminutive Learjet, which has a cabin height of less than five feet. They now covet top-of-the-line aircraft such as Bombardier’s own Global 7500, General Dynamics Corp.’s Gulfstream G650 and Dassault Aviation SA’s Falcon 8X, which fly faster, can cross continents and allow most adults to stand up on board. “The Learjet is an iconic brand that was associated with elegant, sophisticated, stylish people who wanted to go fast,” said Janine Iannarelli, founder of Par Avion Ltd., a Houston-based broker for jet sales. “Today is a bit of a different story.” Bombardier, which had bought Learjet in 1990, had attempted to keep up but was continually stymied. In 2007 the company unveiled the Learjet 85, which would be Bombardier’s first jet built from composite materials instead of aluminum and use new techniques for design, engineering and production. Image Unavailable, Please Login But that experiment turned into “an industrial fiasco,” said Vincent, the Texas-based consultant. The project fell behind schedule just as Bombardier was bleeding cash on development of the C Series commercial airliner and the Global 7500, the world’s biggest private jet. Bombardier took at least $2.6 billion in charges related to the Learjet 85’s cancellation in 2015. “It certainly took away any thought of more capex and research and development in Learjet, probably forever,” Vincent said. Bombardier kept pressing on, though. In 2019 it tried to spruce up the Learjet 75, the brand’s only model still in production. Two seats were removed to give the remaining six passengers more room, and the cabin was upgraded. The company also slashed $4 million from the price to just below $10 million. But that still put the tab just slightly above that of Embraer’s Phenom 300. “If anything killed the Learjet line, it was the Phenom investment and entry,” Vincent said. “The waters now are very full of sharks and it’s a tough place to make money for Bombardier, so they moved away.” Bombardier said it remained committed to Learjet owners and operators after making what CEO Eric Martel called a “difficult decision” to halt production. Today, the plane that once ferried Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack to the Vegas Strip has been downgraded to workhorse status, taking executives of midsize companies to remote factories. The wealthy who fly themselves to the slopes in Utah would just as soon use a plane that only needs only one person at the controls. “Other small jets out there are cheaper to operate and more forgiving to fly,” said Iannarelli, the broker.
In 1976 I was a student pilot on a solo cross-country and stopped in Bloomington IN, home of Indiana University. Fueling my C-152 when Learjet pulls up and drops off a group of long haired gentlemen. Have no idea who they were, but they stayed out on the tarmac and watched the Lear perform a 'military' power TO, whooping and hollering as it roared into a steep climb. Probably missed a good concert.
I love the first picture! Learjets of any age are still the sexiest airplane on the ramp. However, ever since the Gates days, the company has had a bunch of owners who couldn't really afford to keep it up. The 45 was a step in the right direction, but too little, too late. This is a fun book about flying Learjets throughout Latin America and Florida, back in the 20 series days: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1946886157?pf_rd_r=6Z0TF4A1S73W7H8E4NG7&pf_rd_p=5ae2c7f8-e0c6-4f35-9071-dc3240e894a8&pd_rd_r=1ea5e270-07e8-46c2-b39e-71cfaeaf05f7&pd_rd_w=GNBwc&pd_rd_wg=6Xa9N&ref_=pd_gw_unk
A lear 24 is as close as I've ever come to a thrill ride in an airplane. Charter from SJC to San Antonio. Stopped for fuel at a dinky almost deserted airstrip east of Albuquerque. The pilot was about 100' off the ground with the gear up for a long time gaining speed across the desert and then pulled back hard. Obviously it wasn't but it felt like straight up. I've flown private a fair amount but I'll never forget that moment in that little plane.
I loved flying the 24! It helps that the only one I flew was a really, really nice one, but the performance was unbelievable.
My father owned a Lear 31 A and that thing was a rocket. 51,000 ft ceiling and would get there quick!
31A was great as well. In many ways, maybe my favorite. Most of the good stuff of the 35 with decent autopilot and avionics. Although a late, FC-530 35A was pretty nice as well, and with the 31A it always seemed like wherever you wanted to go was just beyond it's range. At least that was my experience.
He went from the 31A to a Hawker 800 XP. Mid size with good range, it was actually the 1000 Hawker ever made and was known as the Millennium Hawker.
Bombardier when they first bought Learjet invested some real development money. The 31 was an attempt to make the wing easier/cheaper to build. The 60 was a good improvement of the 55. The 45 was clean sheet but proved that Bombardier's product development timeline sucked. They only thing they could claim was that they were less bad than Raytheon with the Premier and Horizon. Then they just didn't do much. Which was eactly what had happened with the Lear 35 - why buy new when there is nothing that can't be upgraded to do the same. Cessna on the otherhand understood very well the need to keep making variants with different attributes to stimulate the market. This all goes to the ineptitude of Bombardier management and especially the Boudian (sp?) family.
To add to this, the 35 is simply a phenomenal airplane, even today. The 31, as you point out, was an effort to make the airplane cheaper, and worked, especially since the range was so short. But the 45, in it's early incarnations, really didn't add much to what the 35 could already do. The 60 was a nice improvement in some ways, but had various issues that made it not really competitive with the 800XP-- even though personally, I would prefer a 60. Over time, they did evolve the 45 into quite a good airplane, but too little, too late. And not enough development budget from then on. Even today, a 35 with Garmin avionics and the ZR-Lite package is very competitive with anything in it's class, at a fraction of the cost.
The 45's concept was good but Learjet had real problems getting the project done. The 8 pax in double club with a real lav in the back was a far better solution to the 35. I assume, understanding the Bombardier way, that producibility was included into the equation. But they knew they were significantly overweight early on. If one hung around with certain people in Wichita and Tuscon the recurring refrain was just how bad the Bombardier most senior level management was starting with Laurent Boudoin. Then they installed family related members at key points that were not up to their task but were mostly unassailable because of the family connection. These days the issue with a 35 and a long, long list of other older aircraft is the cockpit upgrade path. Integration with the old systems for ADS-B out and in and then to CPDLC is going to put a lot of aircraft to the graveyard. Look at the Gulfstream V to Global Express announcement to initial deliveries to see the "expertise" of the Bombardier way. The Global was announced first. A big deal with lots of fanfare. But Bombardier would not commit to the project until far later. Gulfstream announced the GV with an immediate commitment to full development and sales. While Gulfstream was moving forward Bombardier was still working on their risk sharing partners. GV was delivering aircraft that did what they were supposed to do while Bombardier was still trying to bring the Global to life.
