Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

A little more than a year after unveiling its “like-new” Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) aircraft program, Bombardier is encouraged by the positive results, finding that participating jets are selling some 50 percent faster than others not in the program.

 


Bombardier (Static SD_310) announced the Certified Pre-Owned aircraft program in July 2021 under which the Montreal-headquartered business jet maker would acquire select Learjet, Challenger, or Global jets from trade-in or the market&nbsp;and inspect, update, and renovate them inside and out before reselling them. CPO aircraft come with a one-year manufacturer’s warranty and operational support.

 


Chris Milligan, v-p of preowned aircraft and flight operations, explained that the company’s services network had been conducting 120 to 140 pre-buy inspections a year and over the course of time watched a process that was “a little bit difficult and cumbersome” between buyers, sellers, and brokers. The network also saw what happened after the buyer acquired the aircraft, sometimes having to wait months for updates to be accomplished, Milligan said.

 


“We thought that we could create a totally new experience for a buyer, especially in this day and age&nbsp;when you've got a number of first-time buyers touching our product for the first time.”

 


With CPO, he added, “Our focus is whenever you buy it, you're flying away and putting it in service. It's a turnkey solution&nbsp;for the owner backed by the OEM and knowing that it's been completely reviewed.”&nbsp;Work on the aircraft can be extensive before it reaches the market, encompassing new interiors, fresh paint, updated avionics, and in-flight connectivity, along with repairs, improvements, and detailed inspections.

 


Aircraft involved in CPO are only those acquired by Bombardier. Company executives said customers who have bought aircraft on the open market can still receive those updates by coordinating with its service center network, but those jets would not be part of the CPO program.

 


Peter Bromby, v-p of preowned sales&nbsp;worldwide for Bombardier, said the program has received “nothing but positive feedback.”&nbsp;Bombardier did not update its sales figures for the program, but a few months after announcing the program last year, executives noted that Bombardier had already sold four aircraft and had four more in the works.&nbsp;Further, Bombardier is finding that brokers are placing the CPO aircraft at the top of the list of available aircraft for buyers.

 


In addition, the program brings a premium price. The executives gave examples of some of the aircraft sold in the past year, including a 2006 Challenger 300 that had about 5,300 hours on it, a 2008 Challenger 605, and a Global XRS that was originally delivered in 2010.&nbsp;All had extensive work from avionics swaps to cabinetry and seat refresh.

 


These were the perfect examples for the program, those that have reached or were approaching midlife. “Our main focus is not just matching a buyer with a seller,” said Milligan. “Our main focus is really getting our arms around the airplane, updating it, upgrading it, and building the kind of quality and pedigree into that airplane at the 10-year mark, the 15-year mark, the five-year mark, wherever that aircraft is in life.” Bombardier will not accept every aircraft into the program. It must meet quality standards to count as CPO, he added.

 


The timing of jumping into the program came as preowned sales had soared. The market for Bombardier preowned aircraft historically has hovered around 440 transactions a year, but reached a record 555 in 2021, the highest on record, said Thomas Fissellier, director of preowned aircraft acquisition and sales support. Over time, the mix of Challengers and Globals are increasing in the share of that pie, he said. This and the fact that the preowned market typically is three to four times bigger than the new market presented a strong opportunity, he said.

 


The market dynamics have led to “some nice pricing and residual value trends, which has been definitely a tailwind.” However, he added, “every airplane acquisition has really been a fight on our side” with tight inventories.

 


Sales are softening a bit from 2021, which Fissellier said may help boost the pool of available aircraft that Bombardier can go after for CPO. Even so, Bombardier believes the market overall for its preowned aircraft will still be above historic levels this year at around 500 and remain that way going forward, returning to 6 percent compound annual growth.&nbsp;“We’re actually very well positioned to capture&nbsp;that growth opportunity.”

 


At the height of the market, Bombardier would receive multiple offers for CPO aircraft within a few days. Now, it is still getting those offers, but in one to two weeks. While a little slower than the “feeding frenzy” at the height of the market, the demand remains strong, Bromby said.

 


An important part of the growth is first-time buyers. Bromby said pre-pandemic, new-concept, or first-time buyers had represented about 7 percent to 9 percent of Bombardier preowned business. This&nbsp;shot up to about 40 percent to 43 percent at the height of the pandemic but has settled in at about 21 percent now. ‘The concept buyers are still out there,” he said. “A lot of them have migrated from being the ad hoc charter customer, or just individuals that are looking for different means for travel, trying to stay away from the airlines.”

Bombardier Tapping Market for 'Certified' Preowned Aircraft

Bombardier's "certified" preowned aircraft are flying off the market about 50 percent faster than those not in the program.

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