Bombardier says it’s expecting a sales increase of 40 percent in business jets to the Middle East and North Africa this year thanks to surging economies and the accompanying interest in the most convenient way to travel by air. According to Gulfnews.com the company has already sold 27 aircraft in that part of the world this year, fully 10 percent of its production for the year. “The demand has gone crazy at the moment in the Middle East,”Khader Mattar, the company’s VP of sales for that area said Monday.
The company wouldn’t list a total figure for the sales but said aircraft ranging in price from a $9 million Lear to a $53 million Global Express are involved. At the Dubai Air Show, the company is expected to announce the sale of a Challenger 605, the latest in the venerable line of wide-bodied aircraft that got the company into the market. Bombardier has sold 276 aircraft this year so far and expects to tops 300 by the end of its fiscal year on Jan. 30.
