Bombardier Challenger 3500 Review: The Super-Midsize Jet With a 4,850 ft Cabin (2026)

The Bombardier Challenger 3500 is the newest version of a very successful business jet family. Together with the Challenger 300 and 350 before it, Bombardier has delivered more than 1,000 of these super-midsize jets. The 3500 flies 3,400 nm, carries up to 10 passengers in a stand-up cabin and keeps the air inside at a low 4,850 ft cabin altitude. In this review we look at it the way we review airliners: the looks, the cabin, the engines, the cockpit, range, safety, price and how it compares with its rivals.

Quick answer: the Challenger 3500 is a super-midsize twinjet that entered service in September 2022. It seats up to 10, costs about US$27 million new (2023) and flies 3,400 nm, enough for any nonstop flight across the US. Its main rivals are the Cessna Citation Longitude and the Embraer Praetor 600E. It has the widest cabin of the three.

Bombardier Challenger 3500 Quick Facts

Sources: Bombardier: Challenger 3500; price from Wikipedia: Bombardier Challenger 300; entry into service from AIN.

What Is the Challenger 3500?

The Challenger 3500 is the smallest jet Bombardier makes (see our guide to every Bombardier jet). Its story starts in the late 1990s with a jet called the Bombardier Continental. Wikipedia says Bombardier launched it at the 1999 Paris Air Show as a new design for eight passengers, not a version of the older Challenger 600. Renamed the Challenger 300, it first flew on 14 August 2001 and entered service with Flexjet on 8 January 2004.

The Challenger 350 followed in 2014 with stronger engines, canted winglets, a longer wingspan and 20% taller windows; NetJets was the launch customer. Wikipedia says Bombardier claimed 58% of the super-midsize market in 2018. On 14 September 2021, Bombardier unveiled the Challenger 3500, an update of the 350 with autothrottles and a new cabin. Its name matches Bombardier’s Global models, such as the Global 6500.

According to AIN, the 3500 entered service in September 2022 and became the fastest super-midsize model to reach 100 deliveries, in October 2024. On 27 February 2025 Bombardier delivered the 1,000th jet of the Challenger 300/350/3500 family, to JM Family Enterprises.

How the Challenger 3500 Looks: Exterior Design

The Challenger 3500 is 68 ft 8 in (20.9 m) long with a 69 ft (21.0 m) wingspan. Wikipedia says the wing is built in one piece by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, while Taiwan’s AIDC makes the rear fuselage and tail. The airframe is aluminium, the winglets are composite, and the swept wing uses a supercritical design, shaped to delay the drag that builds up near the speed of sound.

The 350 added canted winglets, which lean outwards, and 5.2 ft (1.6 m) more wingspan than the original 300. On the first version, Wikipedia says the winglets cut lift-induced drag in cruise by 17%. It has a T-tail and two engines at the back.

How to recognise a Challenger 3500 at the airport

• A T-tail with two engines mounted on the rear fuselage
• Winglets that lean outwards (canted), not straight up
• A row of large, tall cabin windows
• It looks almost the same as a Challenger 350; the differences are mostly inside

The HTF7350 Engine, Explained Simply

Two Honeywell HTF7350 turbofans each give 7,323 lbf (33 kN) of thrust, flat rated to ISA+15°C, which means they keep full take-off thrust on warm days. Wikipedia says this is 7.3% more take-off thrust than the original Challenger 300’s engines. The HTF7000 family also powers the Citation Longitude and Praetor 600E, so all three rivals have closely related engines. Our turbofan vs turboprop guide explains how a turbofan works.

Inside the Cabin

The cabin is 25 ft 2 in (7.68 m) long, 6 ft (1.83 m) tall and 7 ft 2 in (2.19 m) wide, with a flat floor. That makes it the widest cabin of the three main super-midsize jets: 9 in wider than the Citation Longitude and 4 in wider than the Praetor 600E. Bombardier calls it the quietest cabin in its class but does not publish a decibel figure. See how it compares in our Praetor 600E vs Challenger 3500 guide.

1. Nuage seats

The 3500 uses the patented Nuage seats from Bombardier’s Global jets. Bombardier says they were the industry’s first seats with a zero-gravity position, a deep, legs-up resting position. A three-seat divan that can be made into a bed is available, and there is room for up to 10 passengers.

2. A 4,850 ft cabin altitude

Bombardier says the cabin altitude is 4,850 ft when cruising at 41,000 ft, about the same as standing on the ground in Denver, and that the cabin air is completely replaced in under two minutes. That is lower than the 5,950 ft listed by Wikipedia for the Citation Longitude; a lower cabin altitude means more oxygen and less tiredness after a long flight.

3. The biggest screen in its class

Bombardier lists a 24-inch (61 cm) 4K display, which it calls the largest and the only 4K screen in its class, along with immersive “sweet spot” audio, what it calls the industry’s first voice-controlled cabin, haptic touch switches and wireless phone chargers. The design won a Red Dot “Best of the Best” product design award in 2022.

4. Galley, baggage and Wi-Fi

The galley has a microwave or an optional high-temperature oven. The baggage compartment holds 106 cu ft (3 m3) and can be reached at any time during the flight. Iridium Certus gives basic worldwide connectivity, with faster Ka-band satellite or 4G air-to-ground internet available.

The Cockpit

Bombardier calls it the best-equipped cockpit in its class. It has four large displays; Wikipedia says the Challenger 300 and 350 use Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics. The 3500 adds a standard autothrottle, which manages engine power automatically and reduces pilot workload.

Standard equipment includes a synthetic vision system, which shows a 3D picture of the terrain ahead, MultiScan weather radar, dual flight management systems with LPV and RNP approaches, dual inertial reference systems and dual satellite-based GPS. A head-up display with an enhanced vision system (an infrared camera view of the runway) is available as an option.

Range and Performance

Bombardier quotes 3,400 nm (6,297 km) with 4 passengers and 2 crew at Mach 0.77, with NBAA IFR reserves, and notes that real range depends on speed, weather and options. By our great-circle calculation, New York JFK to Los Angeles is about 2,150 nm and London Heathrow to Dubai about 2,970 nm, so both are within its quoted range, though headwinds and a full cabin reduce it in practice.

Source: Bombardier: Challenger 3500.

Bombardier also says it can be ready to depart in as little as 7 minutes and quotes 99.8% dispatch reliability, based on Challenger 350 data. Learn what weight limits like these mean in our guide to MTOW.

Safety Record

The Challenger 300 family has been flying for more than 20 years. Wikipedia records that in 2022 the FAA ordered extra safety checks after several cases of horizontal stabiliser trim problems, and that in 2023 a passenger was killed on a Challenger 300-family jet when the stabiliser trim system was switched off after automatic inputs and the aircraft pitched violently. In December 2024 a Challenger 300 crashed into a house after landing at San Fernando, Argentina, killing both pilots. Wikipedia lists no accidents involving the Challenger 3500 itself.

Modern features on the 3500, such as autothrottles, synthetic vision and the optional head-up display with enhanced vision, add layers of protection, and Bombardier quotes 99.8% dispatch reliability.

Price and Who Flies It

Wikipedia says the Challenger 3500 was priced at US$26.7 million when it was announced in 2021, the same as the 350, and that the advertised price of a new-build 3500 was US$27.2 million in 2023. For comparison, Wikipedia lists about US$30 million equipped for the Citation Longitude (2023), although the two prices are measured differently.

Major users of the family named by Wikipedia include Flexjet, which launched the Challenger 300 in 2004, NetJets, the Challenger 350’s launch customer, VistaJet and XOJET.

Challenger 3500 vs Its Rivals

Sources: Bombardier: Challenger 3500, Textron Aviation: Citation Longitude, Embraer Praetor 600E brochure; Longitude cabin altitude from Wikipedia. Each maker measures range its own way.

Challenger 3500 vs Cessna Citation Longitude

Very close rivals with the same 25 ft 2 in cabin length. The Longitude carries more people and quotes 100 nm more range; the Challenger 3500 is 9 in wider and has a lower cabin altitude. Read our full Citation Longitude review. Side by side: Challenger 3500 vs Citation Longitude.

Challenger 3500 vs Embraer Praetor 600E

The Praetor 600E flies further (4,018 nm with 4 passengers), and Embraer says it is the only super-midsize jet that can fly London to New York nonstop. It also has fly-by-wire controls. The Challenger 3500 has the wider cabin and a much larger fleet behind it. See our Embraer guide.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Widest super-midsize cabin: 7 ft 2 in, with a flat floor
• Low 4,850 ft cabin altitude
• Nuage zero-gravity seats and a 24-inch 4K screen
• Standard autothrottles and synthetic vision
• Huge family fleet: more than 1,000 delivered by 2025
• Baggage reachable in flight

Cons

• Shorter range than the Praetor 600E
• Up to 10 passengers, against 12 in its rivals
• Bombardier publishes no cabin noise figure
• Little changed outside from the Challenger 350

Our Verdict

The Challenger 3500 is the safe, well-proven choice in the super-midsize class. It has the widest cabin of its main rivals, a lower cabin altitude than the Citation Longitude and a cabin full of technology borrowed from the Global jets, on top of an airframe family with more than 1,000 deliveries. It does not fly as far as the Praetor 600E or carry as many people as the Citation Longitude. For coast-to-coast trips in the US or flights of up to about 3,000 nm, it is one of the most comfortable jets you can buy for the money.

Key Takeaways

• The Challenger 3500 flies 3,400 nm at up to Mach 0.83 with up to 10 passengers.
• Its cabin is 7 ft 2 in wide and 6 ft tall, with a 4,850 ft cabin altitude.
• It entered service in September 2022 as an update of the Challenger 350, adding autothrottles and a new cabin.
• It cost about US$27.2 million new in 2023; the Challenger 300/350/3500 family passed 1,000 deliveries in February 2025.

Frequently Asked Questions

Featured image: FlyingFuel graphic using a photo of a Bombardier Challenger 3500 landing at Berlin Brandenburg Airport by André Gerwing, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.