October 2016
Gulfstream Aerospace announced on October 21 that it will cease production of the G450 as it prepares for service entry of its new fly-by-wire G500 in late 2017. The final G450 will be delivered in 2018, providing a seamless product transition between the two business jets.
November 2016
In November, the Gulfstream G280 was certified for steep approaches by both the FAA and the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI), with approval to operate at London City Airport.
Gulfstream announced that the Polish Ministry of National Defense would take delivery of two G550s for VIP transport in 2018. At list prices, the deal was worth approximately $108 million.
December 2016
Gulfstream’s new G600 large-cabin business jet completed its first flight ahead of schedule. The December 17 milestone began a flight-test program that is set to lead to type certification and first deliveries in 2018. The first test aircraft took off from Gulfstream’s headquarters at Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport at 1:50 p.m. and flew for 2 hours and 53 minutes.
January 2017
In January, Gulfstream’s flagship G650ER claimed two more city-pair speed records from Columbus, Ohio, to Shanghai and Taipei to Scottsdale, Arizona. The 6,750-nm flight from John Glenn Columbus International to Shanghai Pudong International Airport was completed in 14 hours 35 minutes, with an average cruise speed of Mach 0.85. Meanwhile, the G650ER flew 6,143 nm back to the U.S. from Tawain’s Taipei Taoyuan International to Scottsdale Airport in 10 hours 57 minutes, cruising at Mach 0.90.
The G280 set a new speed record by completing a flight from Carlsbad, California, to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, in 4 hours and 47 minutes. The super-midsize business jet flew at Mach 0.84 to cover the 2,257 nm from McClellan-Palomar Airport to Kona International Airport. Since its November 2012 service entry, the G280 had earned 57 speed records.
February 2017
Gulfstream's G280 racked up its 58th city-pair speed record on a flight in Africa in February. The super-midsize jet flew 3,248 nm from Windhoek, Namibia, in the southern part of Africa, to Dakar, Senegal, on the west coast, in 7 hours and 38 minutes at an average speed of Mach 0.80.
A second G600 took to the skies on February 24. That initial voyage lasted 4 hours and 26 minutes.
March 2017
In March, the G550 was selected for medevac operations in Beijing. The Rolls-Royce-powered twinjet was outfitted to support the Beijing Red Cross Emergency Medical Center for disaster relief and air rescue. The aircraft was outfitted with a medical bay, powered gurney-loading system on aircraft stairs, fold-out nurses’ seats for individual patient care, refrigerated medical storage cabinet, X-ray viewing equipment and a crew-rest area with berthing.
April 2017
Gulfstream’s parent company General Dynamics announced that the manufacturer delivered 30 business jets (23 large-cabin, seven midsize) in the first quarter, up from 28 (20 large-cabin, eight midsize) in the same period in 2016. This contributed to increased revenues at General Dynamics’s aerospace division, which also includes Jet Aviation. Revenues jumped $293 million year-over-year to $2.074 billion while profits climbed $111 million to $443 million.
May 2017
On May 5, the third flight-test Gulfstream G600, T3, successfully completed its maiden flight. Registered N730GD, the fly-by-wire twinjet took off at 8:51 a.m. from Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport on a 4-hour, 35-minute inaugural test flight. This milestone was reached just five months into the flight-test campaign for the G600.
Gulfstream delivered the first B-registered G650 to an undisclosed customer based in mainland China in May. This follows type-certificate validation from China’s Civil Aviation Administration for Gulfstream’s flagship G650 and G650ER ultra-long-range twinjets in mid-February.
July 2017
Deliveries at Gulfstream fell 17 percent in the second quarter from 2016. During the quarter, the company delivered 30 jets (23 large and seven midsize) compared to 36 in the same period last year (29 large and seven midsize). In the first six months, Gulfstream had shipped 60 airplanes (46 large and 14 midsize), compared with 64 (49 large, 15 midsize) in the first half of last year.
Gulfstream delivered its 550th G550 in July. Powered by two Rolls-Royce BR710-C4-11 engines, the G550 can carry up to 19 passengers and fly eight passengers and four crew 6,750 nm at Mach 0.80.
August 2017
Gulfstream Aerospace’s fifth, and final, flight-test G600 made its maiden flight from the company’s headquarters in Savannah, Georgia, in August. Registered as N600G, the twinjet took off from Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport at 3:07 p.m. for a nearly three-hour flight, reaching 51,000 feet and a speed of Mach 0.85. At this point, the five flight-test G600s had logged more than 180 flights and 790 flight hours.
The Gulfstream G280 fleet recently surpassed the 100,000 flight-hour mark, a milestone reached within five years of the first model entering service in November 2012. More than 115 G280s are in service, and through last month the fleet had achieved a dispatch reliability rate of 99.90 percent.
September 2017
In September, Gulfstream reported that more than 250 Gulfstream G650/650ERs have been delivered globally since the G650 achieved FAA type certification five years ago.
