Skandia wins Transport Canada approval for Challenger 600 soundproofing kit

Skandia, Inc. announced that Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) has granted final approval for its acoustic soundproofing kit for the Bombardier Challenger 600 series. In flight testing, the kit lowered cabin noise by an average of 3.1 dB(SIL) from the forward cabin to the aft cabin. Skandia says a 3.1 dB reduction roughly halves cabin sound energy, with minimal added weight.

Canadian operators, MROs and completion centres can now install the kit on the Canadian-built aircraft. FAA and EASA operators have been able to install it since 2022.

Skandia engineered and tested the kit in-house using its own acoustic materials. It is offered as an à la carte menu, so each operator can choose treatments to suit its aircraft, budget and maintenance schedule. The options are skin damping, floor damping and carpet pad, thermal acoustic insulation bags, and an overframe blanket. The kit is turnkey and ships with installation schematics and instructions.

The company announced the approval at NBAA-BACE, where it is exhibiting at Booth 2025, Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall. Manny Valtierra, site manager at Skandia, said operators in the Challenger's home market now have access to the same cabin noise reduction that FAA and EASA operators have had since 2022. The Challenger 600 series kit joins Skandia's soundproofing systems for more than 80 aircraft models, ranging from turboprops such as the King Air 200 and Pilatus PC-12 to large-cabin jets. Skandia also offers acoustic consultation and custom solutions for aircraft of any size.

Supplemental modifications for business aircraft are certified authority by authority, and the sequence matters commercially. Here the FAA and EASA routes opened in 2022, while the aircraft's home regulator has only now followed. For the Canadian-registered portion of the Challenger 600 fleet, the practical gap between a product existing and being installable was closed only with this approval.

The menu structure also reflects how retrofit demand works in this segment. Operators of mature aircraft tend to schedule cabin work around heavy maintenance events, so a modular offering in which damping, insulation and blankets can be chosen separately lets the work be fitted to a downtime window and a budget instead of a single large commitment. Measuring noise inside an operator's own cabin in flight, as Skandia offers, turns the choice of treatments into a data-driven decision instead of a catalogue guess.

The 3.1 dB(SIL) figure is an average from Skandia's own flight testing, and the halving of sound energy is the company's own characterisation. Individual aircraft will vary with the treatments selected, so installed results on Challenger 600 series cabins are the next evidence worth watching as Canadian MROs and completion centres begin fitting the kit.