At a late afternoon press event yesterday, Bombardier announced a long-awaited flat-panel upgrade to the Global Express XRS and 5000 cockpits. As other business jet and even light airplane manufacturers have switched to LCD displays, the Global Express models are the lone large-cabin jet holdouts still being delivered with six old-fashioned CRTs in the instrument panel.

Bombardier’s avionics upgrade to the two Global Express models brings Rockwell Collins’ flat panels into the long-range jets’ cockpits, further cementing the OEM’s relationship with the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based avionics manufacturer. In the Global Expresses, the new avionics suite is called the Global Vision flight deck and it is based on Rockwell Collins’ just-announced Pro Line Fusion avionics system. Global Vision will be certified in the third fiscal quarter of 2010 and enter into service in 2011.