Learjet 75

Updated: October 2026 – Some aircraft don’t look like what they mean. The Learjet 75 is one of them. On the apron stands a white, slender jet with a T-tail and swept-up winglets, hardly different from its predecessors. And yet it is the end of a line that began in Wichita in 1963: it was the last new Learjet to roll off the line. This page is about the brand’s final generation – how it came about, why it stayed the last one and how you recognize it from outside the fence.

Learjet: a brand that shaped the business jet

To place the Learjet 75, it helps to look back. The inventor and entrepreneur Bill Lear wanted to build a small, fast jet for business travelers in the early 1960s – much quicker than the propeller aircraft that were common at the time. On October 7, 1963, the first Learjet 23 took off in Wichita, Kansas, and a year later the first production aircraft went to a customer. The name Learjet became a synonym for private jets in many languages.

In 1967 the Gates group took the majority stake, and the company later operated as Gates Learjet. In 1990 the Canadian group Bombardier bought the brand and made it the entry point of its business jet lineup, below the larger Challenger and Global. Under Bombardier, the new Learjet 45 family emerged in the mid-1990s, and many years later the Learjet 75 grew out of it.

Among the best-known models is the Learjet 35/36 with its distinctive tanks at the wingtips, which flew for decades as a business, ambulance and target-towing aircraft. The Learjet 45 followed as a more modern generation with winglets and a larger cabin. Alongside it, the longer Learjet 60 was built for a while. In June 2017, Learjet delivered its 3,000th aircraft – a milestone hardly any business jet manufacturer has reached.

Why the 75 stayed the last generation

After the 45 family, a completely new Learjet was supposed to follow. In 2007 Bombardier launched the Learjet 85, a larger jet with a composite fuselage. The program fell behind schedule, was put on hold in January 2015 and finally cancelled in October 2015. That left only one way to keep the line fresh: thoroughly modernize the proven Learjet 45.

That is exactly what happened with the Learjet 70 and 75. Bombardier unveiled both in 2012; converted 40XR and 45XR aircraft served as test beds, and by July 2012 two of them had already flown with the new technology. The US aviation authority, the FAA, certified the Learjet 75 on November 14, 2013; the first 18 aircraft went to customers in 2013 itself. The certification delays did cost orders, though.

The numbers show how quickly the market turned. After 33 deliveries in 2014 and 32 in 2015, it went downhill: 24 aircraft in 2016, 14 in 2017, then 12 each in 2018 and 2019. The shorter Learjet 70 found hardly any buyers, and its production was idle by 2016 at the latest. In June 2017, the 100th Learjet 75 went to its owner.

With the Learjet 75 Liberty, Bombardier made a fresh attempt in June 2019: fewer seats, leaner equipment, a price meant to lure customers from the light jet class. It did not stop the end. In February 2021, Bombardier announced it would end Learjet production at the end of the year and focus entirely on the larger Challenger and Global jets such as the Global 7500. The last Learjet 75 left the assembly line in January 2022 and was delivered on March 28, 2022.

What is inside the final generation

From the outside, the Learjet 75 looks like an old acquaintance. The changes are in the details and above all on the inside.

Engines. Two Honeywell TFE731-40BR engines deliver about 17.1 kN of thrust each and have thrust reversers. The TFE731 family from Honeywell Aerospace has accompanied Learjet for decades – even the Learjet 35 flew with earlier versions.

Cockpit. The Garmin G5000 with large displays and touchscreen controllers replaced the older avionics of the 45 series. For the pilots, this was the biggest leap.

Aerodynamics. New, canted winglets whose shape is modeled on those of the large Global jets, plus smaller improvements, cut drag by about 2 percent. Together with less weight in the nose, range rose by about 4 percent. How different wingtips can be told apart is shown in the guide How to recognize winglets, Sharklets and raked wingtips.

Cabin. The flat cabin floor stayed, while the interior was completely redesigned. The Learjet 75’s cabin is about 6 meters long, 1.50 meters wide and 1.55 meters high and seats up to nine passengers. The galley can be closed off with a sliding door, and the baggage compartment is external, in the tail.

Performance. The service ceiling is 51,000 feet, the jet typically cruises at Mach 0.76, and it can go faster, up to about 465 knots. With a range of about 2,040 nautical miles, it covers intra-European routes without a stop.

Learjet 70, 75 and Liberty compared

For collectors, every variant counts. Here is how the three differ:

The Learjet 70 is the real collector’s treat: with only 13 built, it is among the rarest modern business jets of all. The Liberty has six individual seats, no standard auxiliary power unit and reduced equipment; Bombardier quoted a range of about 2,080 nautical miles. Rivals on the market were light jets such as the Embraer Phenom 300, the Cessna Citation CJ4 or the Pilatus PC-24.

How to identify a Learjet 75 at the airport

The silhouette quickly tells you that you are looking at a Learjet. Which generation it is, you settle in three steps.

How to find an aircraft by its registration is covered in Tracking an aircraft by registration. You can work out the build year with the tips in Finding out an aircraft’s age – for an aircraft with the Learjet look and a build year of 2013 or later, a 70 or 75 is very likely.

Lookalikes outside the family

Besides its own siblings, there are a few jets that look similar from a distance:

• The Cessna Citation Excel/XLS carries its horizontal stabilizer low, not on top of the vertical stabilizer.
• The Hawker 800XP is stockier and has its horizontal stabilizer about halfway up.
• The Phenom 300 and PC-24 also have T-tails but look shorter and rounder; you can also recognize the PC-24 by its blunt nose.
• The Challenger 300/350 and Gulfstream G280 are a class larger with a noticeably wider fuselage.

If you want to dig deeper, you will find the major families at a glance in How to tell business jet types apart.

Where the last Learjets operate

The Learjet 75 flies mostly for owners, companies and charter operators. Many aircraft are registered in North America; in Europe they show up under various registration prefixes. Which operators have how many aircraft keeps changing through sales – so always check details against the current registration.

For sightings in Europe, airports with a lot of business travel traffic are especially worthwhile:

• Geneva: Geneva Airport is one of the most important business jet airports in Europe. From the observation deck you can take in the action; more in the Geneva plane spotting guide.
• Paris-Le Bourget: Le Bourget is a pure business aviation airport and well visited all year round.
• Nice: At Nice Airport, business jet traffic rises noticeably in the summer season.
• Salzburg: At Salzburg Airport, the winter season and the festival period bring many private jets. Good locations are the observation deck and the area by Hangar-7.
• London Luton: London Luton Airport has a large share of private and business flights.

How rare your sighting is by comparison, you can estimate with How rare is my sighting?. You will find more tips on small jets in Spotting business jets and Spotting general aviation.

Photo tips for the last Learjet

Conclusion

The Learjet 75 is not a revolutionary aircraft but the carefully modernized final chapter of a brand that shaped the segment of small, fast business jets. New engines, a Garmin cockpit and new winglets made the proven 45 basis competitive once more, but the market had shifted. After 169 aircraft of the 70/75 family and the last delivery on March 28, 2022, the story of new Learjet builds is closed. For you, that means: every LJ75 sighting is a hit from a finite series – and an LJ70 is a true rarity.