The Australian government will buy three Intercontinental Challenger 604 business jets from Bombardier Aerospace, the manufacturer announced last week.

Qantas Defence Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas Airways Limited, will act as the prime contractor, providing full support for the aircraft including service, maintenance and crew staffing.

Bombardier will deliver the Challenger 604 aircraft to Qantas in 2002. They will be deployed by the Royal Australian Air Force to transport senior government officials across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, and will be based in Canberra.

Australia is the second country to select the Challenger as its government transport in less than three weeks.

The Royal Danish Air Force announced its decision to purchase two Challenger 604 aircraft at FI2000 in July.

In the past nine months, Bombardier business jets have been selected by a number of governments including Japan, Jordan, Turkey, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

More than 500 Challenger have been delivered to date. These include 153 Challenger 604 business jets, the current production model. The fleet has accumulated 1.75 million flight hours as of June 2000.

The 4,077-nautical-mile range of the Challenger 604 allows it to connect Canberra to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and other cities.