BILL BOISTURE, PRESIDENT, GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE

On the Record with
BILL BOISTURE, PRESIDENT, GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE

So what about the new Gulfstream?

The supersonic business jet? "Oh that," says Bill Boisture. "We're going to skip over that and announce a rocket ship here at Farnborough!"
In truth, Gulfstream continues to work on the concept of an SSBJ in conjunction with Lockheed Martin, but the project is very much on the back burner while the as-of-now insurmountable problems of engines and supersonic boom are sorted out.

"The airplane may be the easiest part of it," Boisture told Show News. "But to make it operable over land and affordable from an operating point of view are two goals that must be addressed."

Right now engine overhaul and maintenance costs appear to be prohibitive, and the supersonic noise footprint over land remains unacceptably large.
"Until we solve those two problems you can draw pictures of airplanes all day long, but it isn't going to make it," Boisture said.

Bill Boisture, president of Gulfstream Aerospace, remains tight-lipped about the new airplane being planned behind closed doors in Savannah. He would rather talk about the booming demand for the G-IVSP and high speed, ultra-long range G-V that is now proving itself in service. Both can be seen here at Farnborough.

Gulfstream recently scored a double milestone by rolling out the 400th G-IV and 100th G-V. Seventy were delivered last year, and another 70 will reach customers this year. The G-IV is sold out for the next 18 months, and if you order a G-V today you will have to wait almost two years to get it.

"We've done a lot of work over the last few years. Now we're taking a deep breath and getting ready for new things -- but I don't want to discuss them yet," he said.

The Enhanced G-IV will feature improved Rolls-Royce Tay engines to give better specific fuel consumption and longer range. Gulfstream earlier this year ordered 300 new Tays, with options on 300 more, indicating it sees a market for at least 300 of the new aircraft. The E-G-IV will also feature some systems developed for the G-V, significantly improving its reliability and Gulfstream's capability both to produce and support the aircraft.
Not that reliability is a major problem: Boisture said the G-IV is scoring a dispatch reliability rate of 99.5%.

The G-V, however, is not yet up to that standard, with a score of about 99%. "There are now 85 in customer service, and they are flying every day. With that, we are able to improve reliability and we hope to have it up to 99.5% by the end of this year," he said.

In contrast, only 15 of the rival Bombardier Global Express are in customer service. "The numbers speak for themselves. We see that as a pretty good lead for the G-V," said Boisture.

While reliability is being improved, Boisture said Gulfstream is also working on increasing the number of days in the year each business jet is available by designing in lower maintenance and training requirements. This is particularly important to customers such as Executive Jet's NetJets, whose fleet of 30 G-IVs is flying a busy 1,200 hours a year compared with a fleet average of 525.

Orders for the G-IV and GV continue to hold up, and a significant market development is the choice of the GV for special missions. Some 10% of the G-V orders to date fall into this category, and Gulfstream is working on several programs involving electronic surveillance, Boisture said.

In other developments, Gulfstream plans to bring its Enhanced Vision System to market at the end of the year. And it is increasing its emphasis on cabin management and high altitude training.

"We're no longer focused just on selling airplanes. We really want customers to get the maximum out of them by having the right service, support and training packages," he said.

By John Morris