Following FAA and EASA certification of Gulfstream Aerospace’s ultra-long-range G800 in April, the manufacturer is down to one jet to certify in its new five-aircraft family: the G400.
The smaller G400 made its first flight on Aug. 15, 2024, and likely will be certified in 2025 or 2026, although Gulfstream has not provided a timeframe lately.
While the OEM planned the entire family from the start, it revealed them in three sets to gauge market feedback as the programs progressed.
The manufacturer announced the large-cabin G500 and G600 aircraft in 2014, and certified them in 2018 and 2019, respectively. In 2019, Gulfstream President Mark Burns also unveiled the ultra-long-range G700. Then in 2021, the company surprised the industry with the bookends—the 4,200-nm (4,830-mi.)-range G400 and the 8,200-nm-range G800.
The G400, G500 and G600 share the same fuselage, as do the G700 and G800. The first three are powered by the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW800 family of engines, while Rolls-Royce Pearl 700 engines are on the ultra-long-range aircraft. All five share the Symmetry Flight Deck, which is based on Honeywell Primus Epic avionics, and sidesticks.
“The feedback on the active control sidesticks from pilots across our next-generation fleet has been outstanding,” Burns says. “The reduced workload and enhanced situational awareness is a game changer.”
The G700 and G800 also include dual head-up displays featuring the new Gulfstream Combined Vision System (CVS), which overlays the Enhanced Flight Vision System (EVS) and Synthetic Vision System (SVS), so “pilots can move seamlessly from CVS to solely EVS or SVS with the ergonomically designed switch on the sidestick controller,” says Burns.
Because of the aircraft commonalities, pilot and maintenance training is interchangeable between the jets with common type ratings (G500/G600 and G700/800).
The G800 can be configured with four living areas or three plus a crew rest. Given the 8,200-nm range, Burns says, “we are seeing many [customers] choose the crew rest as they plan their globe-spanning missions.”
The G800 was certified with a balanced field length takeoff distance of 5,912 ft. and a landing distance of 3,105 ft., both of which are shorter than Gulfstream originally planned. These shorter distances could open additional airports for operators.
Gulfstream has not revealed the G800’s service entry date, but analysts predict deliveries will start in the second quarter.
The G800 replaces the very popular G650, the last of which Gulfstream produced in February. That aircraft is at the company’s completion center in Appleton, Wisconsin, and scheduled to be delivered later this year. The G650 program has logged more than 1 million flight hours to date.
Bombardier should give the G800 a competitor later this year with the certification of its 8,000-nm-range Global 8000. During the company’s last earnings call, Bombardier President and CEO Eric Martel said he expected the Global 8000 to enter service by year-end.
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