What It’s Like to Fly Transatlantic on Bombardier’s Global 7500

There’s no better way to appreciate a transatlantic trip on a luxurious, $80 million business jet than just getting off an economy-class flight from hell. Every frequent flier has been there: the seat that doesn’t tilt back, the screaming kids, the sprint between terminals for the connecting flight, and relief at baggage claim that your luggage actually made it.

By contrast, try stepping aboard Bombardier’s flagship Global 7500, with flight attendant Lanis Thate-Hembree greeting you by name and a glass of Champagne, ushering you to a highly engineered lounge chair that puts the most expensive La-Z-Boy to shame.

And that’s just the start of a 10-hour flight from ACI Jet’s modern FBO at the airport in San Luis Obispo, California, to London, U.K.—the flipside of two unpleasant United flights and a mad dash through the Denver airport a day before.

The occasion was Bombardier’s attempt to set the 100th city-pair record since the Global 7500 established the first in 2019 from Los Angeles to New York. Since then, the company and multiple owners have set 98 others, including the world’s longest business-aviation flight of 8,225 nautical miles from Sydney to Detroit.

I’d written about the Global 7500 so many times that I didn’t care that much about the record, but to see if the aircraft lived up to all the superlatives in the PR materials. But what I really wanted to do was experience an honest-to-goodness transcontinental, transatlantic flight aboard one of private aviation’s most technical ultra-long-range jets.

To verify the record, Bombardier also invited Amy Marino Spowart, CEO of the National Aeronautic Association, and Greg Principato, president of Fédération Aéronautique Internationale/World Air Federation, organizations that had validated multiple air records for more than a century, including early record runs by Wilbur Wright, Amelia Earhart, and Charles Lindbergh—plus a few that still stand by Chuck Yeager and John Glenn.

“It’s not like we’ll be strapped in with goggles shooting for Mach 9,” said Mark Mazluch, Bombardier’s senior director of communications, the fifth member of our group. “Your day will continue as normal as you sit aboard the plane. You’ll enjoy a specially prepared meal, have some time to work, take a nap as you wish. We can even put a movie on. It’s quite civilized.” I wish that was my normal day.

“Civilized” is a good word to describe the Global 7500, which is divided into four zones, as opposed to the tight, long rows of a commercial airplane. Our group settled into the “Conference” suite, with four large “Nuage” recliners in a club configuration and six smaller Nuage seats behind. California’s pastoral wine-country quickly gave way to the Caliente mountains after we executed the steep, fast takeoff—one of the 7500’s selling points is that it can access short runways such as London City Airport, or smaller airfields where larger commercial jets can’t land.

Since being certified in 2018, the 7500 has sold more than 200 examples, which have in total accumulated over 220,000 flight hours. Bombardier’s flagship is part of a very competitive niche of ultra-long-range business jets that include Gulfstream’s G700, Dassault’s Falcon 10X, and the smaller but longer-range Gulfstream G800.

As this segment grows, these airframers are duking it out with performance stats and cabin measurements to prove that theirs is aviation’s fastest, longest-range aircraft. It’s a race where Bombardier is upping the ante by soon replacing the 7500 (range 7,700 miles, top speed Mach 0.925) with the Global 8000 (range 8,000 miles, top speed Mach 0.94, though it went supersonic last year in flight tests.)

Hollywood movies aside, the 7500 revealed a very different way of flying. There were the obvious perks of space and luxury—beautiful hardwood veneers (“ethically sourced,” Mazluch noted), leather seats, and the smart knob on the panel beside the seat that controls the headset’s volume, lighting, and shades—which has settings from wide open to blackout—for the large, oval-shaped windows.

What you can’t see are differentiators that have a dramatic impact on the quality of the 10-hour flight. The 7500 typically flies above 43,000 feet (with a 51,000-foot max ceiling), above most turbulence, compared to the 30,000-foot “rough-air” space that most commercial jets inhabit. Our faster speed was also a big bonus in saving transatlantic time. The cabin pressurization system is set at 4,000 feet (as opposed to 8,000 feet on a commercial flight), while the Pũr Air recirculation system refreshes cabin air 20 to 30 times per hour.

One thing that Bombardier does not promote is the soundproofing. Whenever Lanis came from the forward galley, the door opened automatically with a cool Star Trek-like woosh, noticeably increasing decibel levels, but when shut, the jet-engine sound disappeared and we could speak in normal tones.

“The idea is that it doesn’t feel like a plane,” says Mazluch, noting some owners have outfitted interiors to match their primary residences and yachts. “We’ve designed the cabin so it’s easy to move from one room to another. We want it to feel more like being home for a half-day than being on a flight.”

Our group chatted and bonded as Utah, the Midwest, and eventually the Northeast passed below. We enjoyed drinks and hors d’oeuvres, checked email, texted, and made zoom calls, oohed in the Entertainment Suite, with its big flat-screen TV and L’Opera audio system, and aahed even louder in the rear Private Suite, with its real bed and private lavatory (a standup shower is optional).

The conversation steered toward the city-pair speed records, which to me seemed kind of irrelevant compared to the tech-luxe envelope we were enjoying. What’s the point of a record for one aircraft type, I asked, going from one small airport to another?

The record keepers bristled a little bit at the question, noting that for more than a century their organizations have certified all types of records that include distance, altitude, and speed as well as human spaceflight and even team formation records (groups of people skydiving). Unlike the Guinness records, these have strict protocols that mandate visual and other types of proof before a record is awarded.

“There’s clearly a marketing angle for us,” added Bombardier’s Mazluch. “But it’s also a performance demonstration since we set these records under normal flight conditions, pairing cities on routes that many businesses fly.” Owners aren’t just looking at the aircraft’s specs, he added: “They’re already thinking about cities they’ll fly into, with real-life speeds and ranges. The records prove the stats are legitimate.”

Around three hours in, dinner became the MAIN protocol. Lanis turned the rear conference tables into a single stretching across the aisle. She then laid out a linen tablecloth and added fine china, silverware and wine glasses.

When I visited her earlier in the galley, I was impressed with her ability to organize an exceptional meal with limited working space. Of course, compared to smaller business jets, the space—with two ovens, freezer and fridge, sink, and storage drawers—was enormous. The wines (chosen because of their taste at altitude), Caesar salad, tomato-basil soup, entrée choices of steak, salmon, tofu, protein bowls, roasted vegetables and basmati rice were fresh and delicious.

See Also

The Best Luxury SUVs of 2024

When everyone finished and settled back in their loungers with tea or coffee, someone remarked we were halfway through the flight. There were two reactions. First, it was easy to forget you were on an aircraft, and secondly, the trip was so enjoyable, such a nice break from the real world 40,000 feet below, that a few people expressed disappointment. For me, it was the first flight where I wasn’t just waiting to get there.

Somewhere mid-Atlantic, the Northern Lights appeared just above the inky-black horizon. We turned the lights cabin off, and instead of watching a movie in the Entertainment Suite, everyone zoned out on the ethereal green lights.

Later, Étienne Côté, chief pilot for Bombardier’s Demonstration Flight Operations (after the record run came a demo in London), gave me a tour of the cockpit. Chief pilot Bruce Duggan and BJ Ferro were flying the aircraft (a long flight mandates pilot rotation under FAA rules), using the head-up displays and navigation screens in front of them.

“We spent a lot of time considering pilot comfort when we designed this cockpit,” said Côté. “But there’s also the technology that we’ve inherited from previous aircraft and improved on. Probably 90 percent of what you see has a commonality between our earlier Global 6000.” Fly-by-wire technology eases the pilot’s job, and that was combined with more logical, straightforward ways to present information on the consoles and gauges. “Piloting this is is very intuitive,” he said. “It actually flies like a small aircraft.”

About 6.5 hours in, we split up for a few hours’ sleep. The husband-and-wife record-keepers took the Private Suite bedroom, while I claimed the foldout lounge in the Entertainment Suite. The others reclined to prone in their Nuage recliners. Sleeping on a real mattress under a duvet was an experience I knew I’d never repeat in the air, and it was wonderful. “A lot of owners use these two suites as flying motorhomes rather than going to hotels,” said Mazluch. “They don’t need to move any of their stuff.”

About an hour and a half from London, the Soleil lights snapped on. The system, designed by Lufthansa Technik for Bombardier, is a spectrum of 24 pre-programmed daylight settings to naturally speed up one’s biological clock. The idea is to mitigate jet lag. But it seemed like the cabin used all 24 settings in the hour before arrival. The system is clearly meant for longer periods during daylight hours.

Still, when we landed at London’s Biggins Hill private airport, I felt so much more refreshed than the typical redeye, especially considering we flew from the west coast. There to greet us were dozens of Bombardier employees, clapping for the pilots as they disembarked after setting that golden 100^th record.

The final stats were impressive: 4,934 nautical miles at an average speed of 613.8 mph in 9 hours and 17 minutes. And I can’t imagine a better way to set an air-speed record.