The company did not disclose the customer for two of its Challenger and six Global jets, an order valued at $383 million U.S. at list price. Customers typically receive substantial discounts from the list price, especially with the market for private jets still shaky and with inventories of good used models in plentiful supply.
Bombardier Aerospace business-aircraft spokesperson Danielle Boudreau said she could not specify which Challenger (300, 605 or 850) or Global models (5000, XRS, 7000 or 8000) were ordered, nor from which geographical area.
"We are being a bit more selective," Boudreau said. "We don't want to give out our order book to our competitors."
"If we say which models are ordered, it gives more clarity to our rivals."
The unaudited business aircraft order and deliveries book will be made public at some point next month, she added, but not by model.
The numbers will be firmed up on March 31, when Bombardier releases audited results for its fiscal year, which ends Jan. 31.
She could not say how many firm or optional orders have been placed for the Global 7000 and 8000, two aircraft launched at last fall's National Business Aircraft Association trade show in Atlanta. The two planes will cost about $1 billion to develop, the company said.
The two models will compete against Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.' s G650. The three planes are at the apex of the private-jet segment, excluding refitted airliners such as the Boeing Business Jet or personalized wide-bodies like 767s and 747s or Airbus 320s and 330s.
Boudreau said "the entire Global family is doing very well. It held its own throughout the downturn."
Analysts and other aerospace watchers are waiting for the next order of Bombardier's CSeries airliner, which is due to fly in 2012 and to be delivered in 2013.
Bombardier has gone more than 11 months since its last CSeries order. The plane has a firm 90 orders from three clients, and another 90 on option.
Benoit Poirier, an analyst with Desjardins Securities Inc., said that "we are not worried yet (by the lack of orders). But investors are getting impatient, especially now that Airbus announced that the A320neo the European plane maker is proposing to airlines in its bid to counter the threat from the CSeries.
David Tyerman of Toronto brokerage Canaccord Genuity Corp. said that the eight business-plane order "is another data point that points in the right direction. (The order) is not huge, but it's still good, and we're starting to see signs that (the recovery in business jets) is coming," probably in 2012.
The turmoil in the Arab world could upset that recovery, though, said Tyerman, particularly if the unrest -or a revolution -engulfs Saudi Arabia, a major client for private aircraft.
BY FRANCOIS SHALOM, THE GAZETTE
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