The Learjet 85 was a

Learjet Learjet was a manufacturer of business jets for civilian and military use based in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Founded in the late 1950s by William Powell Lear as Swiss American Aviation Corporation, it became a subsidiary of Canadian Bomba ...

development program by aircraft manufacturer

Bombardier Aerospace Bombardier Aviation, a division of Bombardier Inc., is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. The company currently produces the Global and Challenger series of business jets. At its peak, Bombardier operated manufacturing plants in 27 c ...

. 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, it was the first Bombardier Aerospace business jet to feature a

composite structure Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic material ...

. The plane was intended to have a high-speed cruise of Mach 0.82 and a transcontinental range of up to . The program was cancelled in 2015.

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 li ...

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 (ACLP). It was originally developed by Bombardier Aviation and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launche ...

. Bombardier reported nearly 60 Learjet 85 orders at a price of US$17.2 million (2008 dollars).

Flexjet Flexjet is an American provider of fractional ownership aircraft, leasing, and jet card services. Founded in 1995 as a division of Bombardier Aerospace, it is currently owned by Directional Aviation, an aviation private investment firm. Backg ...

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 Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Querétaro, 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Querétaro Cit ...

, Mexico. 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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician and lawyer who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 and 2004. ...

. Some parts of the wing would have been manufactured in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

in Northern Ireland. The first test flight was on 9 April 2014. 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. The company suspended the Learjet 85 to concentrate on the CSeries and Global 7000/8000 instead.

Specifications (Learjet 85)

References

External links

Learjet 85 website archives
on

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

{{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 Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear