Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A delegation of Canadian aircraft company ‘Bombardier’ is going to visit Madhya Pradesh soon to ink an agreement for Challenger 3500 Jet. The state government in July had given a go-ahead to buy a modern mid size jet for flying VVIPs including Chief Minister. The new mid size jet will cost more than Rs 235 crores to exchequer.
The need to buy a new plane was felt as the government's lone plane ‘Beechcraft Super King Air B 200 GT’ had met with an accident in Gwalior in 2021 and since then, the government has been using rental planes to ferry VVIPS. The Challenger 3500 comes with many modern features.
For instance, it has advanced wing design, redefined aerodynamics and a pilot centric avionics suite, smooth ride from take off to touch down. The jet’s operating cost is also reasonable and it provides the ultimate combination of range, speed, field, performance and reliability. The mid-size jet has many unique features. It can fly at high altitude. In the tender, the government had sought built in equipment such as microwave, refrigerator, coffee and tea maker etc.
Along with this, the government had said that the plane should be capable of carrying 8 to 10 persons. Notably, last year, the Madhya Pradesh government had decided to buy the modern aircraft and a renowned American aviation company had won the bid. However, the company was unable to supply the plane within the allotted time limit and hence the bid was cancelled and fresh tender was floated some months ago .
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