Swiss Ponder Global 7500’s Limitations
The much-heralded purchase of a $117 million Global 7500 by the Swiss government has been tarnished a little by its operational shortcomings.
Swiss Air Force
Red-faced Swiss officials are considering how best to deploy their recently acquired Bombardier Global 7500 after discovering it literally won't fit the facilities at the airport in the capital city of Bern. According to luxurylaunches.com, the Swiss air force took delivery of the new executive transport in December to great fanfare, citing its efficiency and utility. A main selling point for $117 million jet was its extreme range of about 7700 nautical miles, allowing top Swiss officials to jet in equally extreme luxury nonstop to any point on earth—but not from Bern.
It turns out the single runway at the Bern Airport (14/32) is only 5,676 at 1,673 feet ASL and a fully loaded Global 7500 needs about 5,700 feet at sea level. Also, the government hangars at Bern are too small for the plane, which is 111 feet long. To get maximum utility from the plane, it has to stage from either Zurich (75 miles) or Geneva (100 miles), meaning the important officials have to commute from Bern. But sometimes even that's not enough. A Swiss delegation needed to get to La Paz, Bolivia, but the 7500 isn't certified for the high elevation (13,325 feet) airport there. They had to take a commercial flight for the final leg.
