The Challenger 600 series is known for being one of the most popular family of business jets ever built. For the Bombardier Challenger 604, however, it holds a distinct honor: The most popular of the series.
Indeed, of the 1,066 aircraft built in the Challenger 600 series to date, 365 have been the Challenger 604 variant. And this isn’t for any other reason than it’s the best on the market!
Background
Having sold his stake in Learjet to the Gates Rubber Company of Denver, Colorado in 1967 and left its board in 1969, Bill Lear set about his next project: designing a longer range business jet better than those then on the market.
By 1974, Lear had come up with a design he called the LearStar 600, a low-wing, twin engine business jet that would be both cheaper to acquire and operate than the Falcon 20, Gulfstream II and Lockheed JetStar then on the market.
As he had sold his stake in Learjet and stepped down from its board, however, Lear lacked the capabilities to launch such an aircraft so began searching for someone to partner with to make this jet a reality. Who he found was Canadair.
Initially hesitant to back such an endeavor, Canadair acquired the exclusive rights to the LearStar program in 1976 and began turning the LearStar into a reality.
During this period large aspects of Lear’s original design were altered, particularly with regards to the tail and engine configuration, increasing tension between Lear and the Canadair brass resulting in Lear’s departure from the program in March 1977.
Accordingly, when the LearStar was unveiled at the 1977 Paris Airshow, it bore the name Challenger 600.
Though it would go on to become the best selling business jet ever, initial sales for the jet were minimal to say the least, resulting in the near-bankruptcy of Canadair and its subsequent 1986 acquisition by Bombardier.
Against all odds, Bombardier not only elected to continue the Challenger 600’s production but actively produce new variants and derivatives, beginning with the Bombardier CRJ-100/-200 family in 1991.
Development
The first business jet development of the Challenger 600 to happen under Bombardier’s ownership (the 601 was developed by Canadair in 1982) occurred in the mid-1990’s.
Codenamed the Challenger 604, Bombardier hoped to make it better than the Falcon 2000 then-under development by Dassault.
To do this, Bombardier engineers came at development from two angles: Modernizing the Challenger 600 and making it more useable.
In the hopes of modernizing the basic Challenger 600 design, Bombardier bought the Rockwell Collins ProLine 4 avionics package for the flightdeck and acquired newer, more fuel efficient General Electric CF34-3B engines.
In the hopes of making the Challenger 600 more useable, Bombardier engineers aimed to increase its range.
Already aided by the addition of more fuel efficient engines, engineers introduced saddle tanks to increase fuel capacity and made minor aerodynamic adjustments to the wings and tail section.
All this increased the Challenger 604’s empty weight considerably, thus decreasing its useable takeoff weight. Hoping to increase this in an attempt to make it more useful, engineers also gave it a new undercarriage with a higher weight limit.
Launched in 1995, Bombardier soon received over one hundred orders for the Challenger 604 and contributed heavily to Bombardier delivering the 500th member of the Challenger 600 series in 2000!
Operational History
Business Jet
Due to the very nature of owing a private jet being enhanced privacy, many owners of the Challenger have hidden their ownership through bank trusts and/or shell companies to avoid being mobbed by the paparazzi.
Despite this, however, we do know that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, American entrepreneur Craig McCraw and actor Johnny Depp own/have owned the Challenger 604.
Military
Air Ambulance
Charter
Fractional Ownership
Price
When Bombardier unveiled the Challenger 604 in 1995, it boasted a $27 million flyaway (new) price, roughly the same price as a brand new Dassault Falcon 2000 – it’s main competitor.
Since production of the Challenger 604 ceased in 2006, the only way to acquire the jet would be on the secondary market. As one of the most popular business jets ever built, there are always Challengers for sale on the secondary market…
Depending on what the market for second hand jets is like, the condition of the jet and its age, the price for a used Challenger 604 can range from as “little” as $3.9 million on the low end to as much as $8.7 million on the high end*.
Typically, however, a mid-to-late 1990’s Challenger in average condition can fetch between $4.5 to $5.25 million. Likewise a late 1990’s or early 2000’s Challenger carries a price tag of roughly $6 million.
Following this pattern, a mid 2000’s Challenger generally carries a price tag of between $7 and $7.5 million.
* Dependent on market conditions and the jet being in lower/higher than average respectively.
Assuming you were going to go down the fractional ownership route, you’d be looking at paying €825,000 for a 1/4 share at current market value, not including charter and/or monthly fees.
However, acquisition costs for the Challenger 604 are only the tip of the iceberg. Assuming you were to fly it for 450 hours per year, the Challenger’s hourly costs would be roughly $5,571, including fuel costs, maintenance, pilot wages and the like.
Variants
As one of the most popular business jets ever, there have been several variants of the Challenger 604 developed by both Bombardier and other companies.
CL-604
CL-604 MMA
C-143A
When the US Coast Guard acquired a single standard Challenger 604 in December 2005 for use as a medium-range command-and-control aircraft it was given the military designation of the C-143A.
Nextant 604XT
In 2017, Kenn Ricci’s aircraft remanufacturing firm Nextant Aerospace announced it would be designing a remanufactured version of the Challenger owing to its popular, though ageing, fuselage.
With a redesigned cabin, wing extension and brand new Rockwell Collins ProLine Fusion flightdeck, the Nextant 604XT as it’s known has a 925 km (575 mi; 500 nmi) longer range than its predecessor.
Thanks to the remanufacturing process employed by Nextant, which delivers an aircraft that is 77% new, the Nextant 604XT was granted a supplemental type certificate in November 2018.
So far, well over 40 have been built, whilst there is still a serious backlog of orders going well into the mid-2020’s.
Specifications
| Specifications | Bombardier Challenger 604 |
|---|---|
| Length | 68 ft 3 in (20.8 m) |
| Wingspan | 64 ft 3 in (19.58 m) |
| Height | 20 ft 7 in (6.27 m) |
| Crew | 2 |
| Passengers | 9 |
| Cruise Speed | 850 km/h (528 mph; 459 kn) |
| Range | 7,082 km (4,401 mi; 3,824 nmi) |
| Service Ceiling | 41,000 ft (12,500 km) |
| MTOW | 48,200Â lb (21,863 kg) |
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What do you think about the Bombardier Challenger 604? Have you ever flown on it? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of James via Flickr.