Four days after delivering the first Global 8000 to its new owner, Bombardier welcomed a handful of journalists to the UK’s Farnborough Airport in a celebration of the new jet and the company’s reimagined brand.

Ève Laurier, VP communications, marketing & public affairs at Bombardier, set the morning’s agenda. “We’re going to tell you about the Global 8000’s performance, about the experience and wellness onboard,” she said during the 11 December briefing.

“And it’s about the brand. A year and a half ago we rebranded the company with the ‘Mach’ logo. The brand is everything, it’s in media, it’s digital, and now it’s on luxury merchandise too.”

Farnborough is effectively the first stop on a Global 8000 world tour during which Bombardier will showcase what it cannot resist describing as ‘the fastest commercial jet since Concorde.’

Laurier’s vision places Bombardier among other luxury technology brands. She sees Bombardier as the epitome of luxury design and aviation excellence, just as Aston Martin conjures an image of traditional luxury and high-tech automotive design.

This luxury brand concept includes a line of exquisite handbags, travel bags and accessories.

Manufactured using offcuts and other leather pieces remaining from the Global cabin seat manufacturing process, and subtly embossed with the Mach logo, the accessories allow passengers to take a reminder of the Global experience with them.

Wellness expert and nutritionist Rosemary Ferguson explained how the Global 8000’s 2,961ft cabin altitude at 45,000ft is a key element in passenger experience and wellbeing. It reduces fatigue and helps minimize the effects of dehydration on long flights; 15-, 16-, even 17-hour missions are possible with the Global 8000.

Stephen McCullough, Bombardier’s SVP engineering & product development, simplified the cabin altitude concept: “Your body feels as it would at the top of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, even though you might be travelling at Mach 0.92 and 45,000ft.”

Arguably a little less relevant to the Global 8000 because of the bizjet’s low cabin altitude in cruise, nutrition is nonetheless an important wellness factor. Bombardier illustrated it at the Farnborough event through a special breakfast menu created and served by Michelin-starred chef and international restauranteur Tom Aikens.

Ferguson explained how the breakfast had been designed to use foods that help the body ‘fly better’. She referenced the importance of hydration, how choosing anti-inflammatory ingredients can help relieve the stress of flying, and Aikens’ selection of ‘slow-burn foods’ to prevent sugar spikes.

Breakfast was taken in the forward cabin, just as it might be during a meal service in flight, sitting on Bombardier’s Nuage seats. It is no exaggeration to say these seats transcend comfort, thanks in large part to their ‘floating’ design. Whether moving back and forth, swinging sideways into the aisle or reclining, the seats are highly flexible, requiring only a simple push of the button.

Laurier demonstrated the Soleil cabin lighting system, designed to match the cabin environment to circadian rhythm, and easily controlled via neatly retracting sideledge controllers or phone app.

Anyone familiar with the Global 7500 cabin already knows the Global 8000, so the superb finish, four separate living zones, including principal suite with full-size bed and en suite bathroom, and impressive entertainment and connectivity options, will come as no surprise.

The Global 8000’s combination of luxurious, connected, comfortable cabin with wellness, technology, and extreme performance, is deeply impressive. Bombardier has brought together multiple factors to create an extraordinary whole, a business jet in which arriving is just the conclusion of the very best journey.

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Featured image credited to Paul Eden