MONTREAL — Flying isn’t a complicated affair at Falcon Aviation—if you can afford it. You await your trip to the heavens in Falcon’s leather-swathed lounge in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. When you’re ready to go, a porter in white gloves and pillbox hat chauffeurs you in a wine-coloured Cybertruck across the tarmac. Once in the air, Falcon passengers much prefer Bombardier jets—“the top choice for clients seeking a spacious and luxurious flying experience,” as the company puts it.

It’s a common theme these days. In North America, private aviation company Bond, the self-proclaimed “world’s first premium fractional aviation company,” promises clients unmatched luxury and comfort of the sort you don’t find on normcore private jet services. The company, which will begin flying in 2027, recently ordered 50 new Bombardier jets for a cool US$1.7 billion.

Bombardier has a reputation as Quebec’s long-suffering corporate giant—underperforming, overreliant on government largesse, shedding valuable assets to stave off doom. Gone were the days when Bombardier could lure public contracts into its orbit by virtue of its size and Quebec address. Narratives of decline were readily available in both official languages.

In this sense, the company’s resurrection is contradictory. Bombardier’s clout and employee count have diminished precipitously, but, as it’s shrunk, its footprint has become fancier. If there are narratives to corporate turnarounds, Bombardier’s might as well be sponsored by Veuve Clicquot.

For this, you can credit Bombardier’s very successful pivot to the hyper-luxury private jet market. In September 2021, less than a year after it sold off its transportation division, the company launched its Challenger 3500 jet. They’ve since sold like mad, becoming the fastest ever aircraft platform to deliver 100 planes in the super-mid-size market, according to the company. 

I called up Andrew Bettis, an easygoing Memphis man who co-founded private jet firm AB Jets in 1999, to find out why the jet is so popular. It comes down to luxury and heft, he explained. The jet’s flat floor, unusual for a plane of its size, means acres of leg room—or even space for a dog to sleep. Bombardier claims the 3500 has the widest cabin for jets of its type, while apparently its seats alleviate discomfort and muscle fatigue. Bettis likened it to flying in a much bigger aircraft—“the Cadillac Escalade” of jets, he said, though it’s similarly priced to competitors like Gulfstream, and has better resale value.

The 3500, along with other Bombardier birds, have jolted the company’s outlook. Its stock ticker, which has pretty much flatlined since 2003, has climbed steadily since 2024. Its stock price, which sunk to $8 in October 2020, now trades above $200. Bombardier’s long-term debt was down 43 per cent, to US$5.2 billion, from 2017 levels. The company expects to deliver 150 aircraft this year, four more than in 2024. Private aviation flight hours have increased beyond pre-pandemic levels, Bombardier spokesperson Matthew Nicholls told me, underscoring the private jet market’s continued growth; and also that, while nothing is recession-proof, catering to high net worth individuals is pretty damn close.

Bombardier has benefited from another significant tailwind. In the recent federal budget, the Liberal government scrapped the luxury tax imposed on the aviation and boating industries in 2022. As my colleague David Reevely recently pointed out, Bombardier and others lobbied hard for the ixnaying of the tax, apparently for good reason: it cratered Canadian demand for Bombardier jets by as much as 80 per cent, as Bombardier CEO Éric Martel said in a recent earnings call. Coincidence or not, the company saw a small budget-day bump in its stock price.

Private jets might seem gauche, even unseemly, to some—expensive baubles in trying times. To them, I say look at what these jets really are: high-tech, recession-resistant, tariff-compliant, made-in-Montreal things that are in demand around the world. The market will be served one way or another. Maybe better it’s from here. 

Martin Patriquin is The Logic’s Quebec correspondent. He joined in 2019 after 10 years as Quebec bureau chief for Maclean’s. A National Magazine Award and SABEW winner, he has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Walrus, Vice, BuzzFeed and The Globe and Mail, among others. He is also a panelist on CBC’s “Power & Politics.”