Bombardier Discloses Environmental Impact Of Its Complete Aircraft Portfolio

Summary

Bombardier is the first to release environmental impact data for every jet, focusing on transparency and sustainability.
EPDs quantify life cycle impacts, including materials and water usage, fuel consumption, and even noise levels.
Business aviation, like Bombardier, rapidly adopts new tech, reducing emissions, and increasing environmental transparency.

Business jet manufacturer Bombardier has become the first in its industry to release scientifically-backed analysis of the environmental impact of every jet in its portfolio. The Environmental Policy Declaration (EPD) was first launched in 2020 with the Global 7500, and has been extended to include more aircraft over the years.

Today’s addition of the final aircraft in the line-up, the Challenger 650, means published EPDs are now available for every aircraft in the portfolio. This has happened a full year ahead of the company’s goal to publish EPDs for the full product line-up by 2050.

Photo: Bombardier

Jean-Christophe Gallagher, Executive Vice President of Aircraft Sales & Bombardier Defense at Bombardier, noted that this move is not to try to pitch Bombardier’s aircraft as being more sustainable than any other, but rather to take ownership of the environmental impact of its jets. He said,

“The same way we provide factual information about the unmatched width of the Challenger 650 aircraft’s cabin in its category or its leading dispatch reliability, Bombardier publicly provides factual information on the environmental impact of its business jets.”

What’s in the EPD?

Taking today’s latest addition, the Challenger 650, as an example, let’s take a look at what actually makes up the EPD for Bombardier aircraft. As Bombardier notes in its documentation,

“An EPD is a document that provides environmental transparency. It is a globally recognized, standardized and verified way of quantifying and communicating the environmental impact of a product across its life cycle. It is created in accordance with the International Standard ISO 14020:2022, as developed by the International Organization for Standardization.”

For the purposes of the EPD, Bombardier had to assume some mission characteristics. Specifically, these are,

Passengers: 6
Crew: 2
Cruise speed: 489 mph (Mach 0.74)
Fuel reserves: Per NBAA standards
Conditions: International Standard Atmosphere (ISA)

Photo: Bombardier

The EPD’s life cycle assessment section takes into account ‘cradle to grave’ impacts, from raw material extraction through to operations and all the way to disassembly and recycling. It brings in the materials used to make the Challenger 650, the renewable energy used in producing components for the jet, the fuel consumption of the aircraft while in operation, and even the amount of water used during all stages of the aircraft’s life cycle.

Noise is also an environmental impact; to calculate this, the EPD considers the average decibels (dBA) compared to other urban sounds and at different stages of the flight.

End-of-life environmental impacts are a huge challenge for aviation, considering how challenging it can be to recycle aircraft parts and dismantle them safely. Bombardier focuses on using materials featuring high recyclability rates to reduce the environmental impact of its business jets. For the Challenger 650, around 80% of the aircraft is recoverable (recyclable) while just 15% ends up in landfill.

Bombardier Challenger 650 recyclability chart

Image: Bombardier

Publishing this information in a publicly available portal is a first for any business jet manufacturer, and is designed to make it easier for companies and individuals to make purchase decisions with all the facts at hand. For the rest of us, it makes it very easy to see at a glance just how these jets impact the world around us. You can see the statistics for yourself on Bombardier’s website.

The poster child for climate change?

Over recent years, flying by private jet has become the new poster child for environmental harm. In years gone by, giant quadjets were often held up as an icon of climate change, but as they become less visible due to retirements, heads have swiveled in the direction of the business aviation industry.

Analysis: How Private Aviation’s Emissions Compare To Other Modes Of Transport

The environmental impact of private jet travel can be over 1000 times more than other travel modes.

Director of Communications at Bombardier, Mark Masluch, noted the advantages of the business aviation market, specifically the higher turnover rates of aircraft, and how this benefits manufacturers like Bombardier. He commented,

“What people don’t see about business aviation is that, over the last couple of decades, it’s been the quickest adopter of new technology to decarbonize. We have a much faster curve of technology adoption than airlines, because people are changing their aircraft every five years, on average. To really affect change through technology, the business aircraft cycle will be much smaller. We’ve pushed new technology on a five to 10-year average, and have reduced emissions like that by 50%.”

This has never been more visible than in the statistics of the flagship Bombardier aircraft – the Global 7500 – which boasts a fuel consumption of just 2.5 liters per functional unit. The Challenger 650, an older aircraft, has a comparative consumption of around 3.8 liters per functional unit, despite being some 43 feet (13 meters) shorter than the Global.

With continuous improvements to aircraft manufacturing processes and life cycle sustainability, Bombardier has really set the bar in making this data available to all.