Bombardier has established a standalone Innovation and Design Centre near its manufacturing facilities in the Greater Montréal area to accelerate customer-focused improvements across its aircraft portfolio. The site brings together engineers, industrial designers, upholsterers and prototypists under one roof to develop and test cabin concepts independently of any specific aircraft programme.

The centre includes equipment and tools for building full-scale mockups and testing innovations off the critical production path. Multidisciplinary teams will work confidentially on ideas aimed at improving the business jet experience and reducing time to implementation.

“In the business aviation sector, innovating is a question of competitiveness and has a tremendous impact on our overall performance in the market. Our customers expect the very best and we have maintained, throughout the years, a steadfast commitment on delivering nothing short of that,” says Bombardier president and CEO Éric Martel.

Vice president of aircraft innovation Sean Johnson adds: “Stimulated by the combination of their expertise, our diverse teams, from industrial designers, engineers, craftsmen and upholsterers to prototypists, now have the means they need to turn their ideas into reality. In the greatest of secrecy and off-critical path, our teams will focus entirely on new product design and innovation.”

Bombardier’s teams have previously designed the Global 7500’s clean-sheet interior and the Challenger 3500’s refreshed cabin, both of which won Red Dot design awards.