Challenger 605

The 605 and the 604 are the same cabin: 341 in long, 98 in wide, twelve seats, 115 cu ft across twelve bags. The differences are narrow and they run in opposite directions. The 605 is quicker — 470 kt against 459 — and its takeoff distance is 5,840 ft, one of only three verified runway figures we hold across the eleven heavy jets. The 604 reaches further, 4,024 nm against 3,702. Neither aircraft is the upgrade of the other in any sense a charterer should pay attention to; they are two settings of the same airframe, and the sector decides which one is right.

Cabin height is 72.8 in, marginally under the 604's 73.2, and no passenger will identify that unaided. What is identifiable is the width, which the two share and which is the reason the Challenger cabin gets requested by name: 98 in is the broadest cross-section in this category. Twelve people in a 341 in room at that width sit across from each other rather than in a file. Production has ended. Where the 604 suits the longest sector the Challenger family can fly, the 605 suits the same party moving a little faster over a shorter one, from a runway whose length is a known quantity.

The same cabin, quicker