With major orders from Flexjet and Quatar Airways, Gulfstream said at the NBAA convention in Orlando this week that it sees strong continued growth for aircraft sales and it reports that both revenues and earnings are up substantially over the previous year, increasingly 7.5 and 12 percent respectively.
In 2010, the company embarked on a $500 million expansion program that includes new production facilities for the recently announced G500 and G600 wide-cabin models. Last week, Gulfstream announced a large order from Flexjet, totaling 50 aircraft in a mix of G450, G500 and G650 aircraft, marking the first deployment of Gulfstream aircraft by Flexjet. The fractional will be a launch customer for the G500, which is due for first deliveries in 2018. Both the G500 and G600 are capable of Mach 0.90 because, says Gulfstream’s Scott Neal, buyers have said they want speed. But evidently, they want long legs, too. The G500 has a 5000-mile range at Mach 0.85 and 3800 miles at Mach 0.90, according to Gulfstream. The G600 can range to 6200 miles at 0.85 and 3800 miles at 0.90.
As did every other aircraft manufacturer, Gulfstream took a hit in the 2008 recession but it has performed strongly in the past five years, claiming a 37 percent gain in fleet size. Neal said Gulfstream’s international sales have doubled during the same period.
