Gulfstream is not exhibiting at this year’s NBAA-BACE. While the aircraft manufacturer attended last year's NBAA show in Orlando, Florida, it was absent from the 2021 convention—the last time the annual event was held in Las Vegas before this year. The company cited a desire for smaller events during the waning days of the pandemic in 2021, but why is it a no-show this time?
“Gulfstream consistently reviews and evaluates our marketing investments to ensure we are delivering on our mission—to create and deliver the world’s finest aviation experience for our customers," Gulfstream said in a statement to AIN. "Over the past few years, Gulfstream has successfully created private events and experiences that have exceeded our customers’ expectations while delivering on our business objectives. We will continue to evaluate opportunities and invest in those that best support this mission.”
The business jet OEM exhibited at the Selangor Aviation Show in Malaysia last month and plans to be at the Dubai Airshow next month. So it's clear that Gulfstream has not written off exhibiting at shows outright.
Reacting to the company's absence at BACE, NBAA spokesman Dan Hubbard said, "All exhibitors at NBAA's convention build their business plans—including as they relate to event participation—around their own set of business priorities, and we respect the decision Gulfstream has made, based on its own considerations."
Industry analyst Brain Foley told AIN that Gulfstream's decision could be due to a combination of factors. He cited a focus on getting its new G700 certified, having nothing new to announce, already having "fat backlogs," a focus on return on investment, and concerns over the possible presence of eco-protesters.
While Gulfstream’s delivery projections for the year have been trimmed, largely due to supply-chain issues according to the company, Phebe Novakovic—the chairman and CEO of parent company General Dynamics—said earlier this year that the market for new Gulfstreams was “solid” and projected delivering 170 aircraft in 2024, topping the company’s delivery record of 156 in 2008. She noted that backlog grew 40 percent during 2022 and the time between order and delivery for large cabin jets stood at 18 to 24 months.
Gulfstream delivered 120 new aircraft in 2022 and 119 in 2021. Total deliveries for 2023, initially projected at 148 aircraft, have been revised downward in recent months. Through the first six months of this year, Gulfstream delivered 45 aircraft—35 of them large-cabin models—according to data from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). That compares with 47 delivered in the first half of 2022.
Gulfstream now forecasts delivering 27 aircraft in the third quarter and a “rapid increase” over that level in the fourth quarter, when it plans deliveries including 19 of its new G700s, Novakovic said.
It is not known at this point what impact the current conflict between Israel and Gaza will have on the production of the super-midsize Gulfstream G280. The aircraft is assembled in Israel by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) for Gulfstream and completed in the U.S. “We are monitoring the current situation in Israel,” a Gulfstream spokesman told AIN, “The safety of our employees, partners, and customers is our greatest priority. We have been in contact with IAI and know that the facilities are currently unharmed.”