The Bombardier Global 8000: Inside the World's Fastest Business Jet

In a market that has long competed on how far a jet can fly, Bombardier built its flagship around a different question. How fast. The Global 8000 is, by the manufacturer's own account, the fastest business jet ever conceived and the fastest civil aircraft since Concorde, with a top speed of Mach 0.95. For the traveler, that speed converts into the one luxury no amount of money can otherwise buy, which is time.

Speed Without Sacrifice

What makes the Global 8000 remarkable is not simply its top speed but that it delivers that speed without giving up range or comfort. It can cruise at an ultra high speed of Mach 0.92, a pace Bombardier says enabled the first ever transcontinental ultra high speed cruise, and still fly 8,000 nautical miles nonstop. Bombardier describes it as two aircraft in one, combining the fastest speed and longest range in its class with a cabin of four equal size living spaces. It carries up to nineteen passengers.

A Cabin Built for Wellness

The Global 8000 also claims the healthiest cabin in the industry. Its lowest in class cabin altitude of just 2,691 feet, maintained while cruising at 41,000 feet, reduces the fatigue and jet lag that come from thinner air. The Bombardier Pũr Air system uses a hospital grade filter that captures up to 99.99 percent of particles, while the Soleil lighting system adjusts to the body's circadian rhythm to help travelers arrive rested. A zero gravity seating position, first of its kind, completes the picture of a cabin designed around human comfort rather than only speed.

Reaching More of the World

Raw performance would mean little if the aircraft could only use a handful of runways. Bombardier's Smooth Flĕx Wing, engineered to behave like two wings in one, allows the Global 8000 to operate from thousands more airports than its closest rival, opening up smaller and more convenient fields near a traveler's true destination. Power comes from GE Passport engines, and the aircraft cruises as high as 51,000 feet, above most weather and traffic.

The Point of All That Speed

The Global 8000 is a statement about priorities. Others in its class fly slightly farther, and the differences in cabin size are matters of taste. But no aircraft returns time to its owner the way the fastest business jet in the world does. For the traveler who measures luxury in hours saved rather than features listed, that is the whole argument.