Record-setting G800 Anchors Gulfstream Dubai Display

Gulfstream has delivered 72 of its flagship G700s since deliveries began in April 2024, including 14 in the Middle East. One of those—a customer-owned airplane—is on display at the Dubai Airshow, along with a company G800 that set another city-pair speed record on its way to Dubai.

Departing from Phuket, Thailand, the G800 made the trip in 5 hours 38 minutes. This is the eighth city-pair record for the G800, which received FAA and EASA certification in April. Another one of its records was a flight from Miami to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 12 hours 33 minutes.

“The G700 has been exceeding performance expectations since it entered service just last year. It is absolutely a differentiator for Gulfstream and for the entire business aviation industry, and it has been the smoothest transition into customer delivery that we have ever experienced,” according to the company.

“A major advantage of the G700 is its spacious cabin. This gives customers a lot of versatility when it comes to fully utilizing and configuring the cabin to meet their individual needs. Mixing all the possible seating configurations—with four different galley configurations, seven different crew area configurations, and eight different aft lavatory configurations—offers customers endless ways to design their cabin. Customers are taking advantage of all five zones in ways that best suit their personal preferences, reflecting the uniqueness of each customer.”

For the Middle East market, ultra-long-range jets such as the G700 and G800 are “hugely” important, said Scott Evans, director of demonstration, airborne customer support, and corporate flight operations. “We’re seeing tremendous interest in the Middle East. Some G700 customers are already looking for another G700. This is a multi-continent connector. Whether it’s the G700 or G800,” he added, sometimes political considerations require flying around global hotspots. “We just change the Mach a little bit and we keep going.” In terms of flexibility and security, he added, “Everything is a positive when connecting two intended cities without a stop.”

The G800 replaces the G650 in Gulfstream’s lineup and can fly 8,200 nm at the long-range cruise speed of Mach 0.85, compared to the G650’s 7,500 nm. “We’re doing things that the G650 did, even though it’s 10 feet longer,” Evans said, “and it’s 6% to 9% more efficient. It’s amazing to see in one short generation what we’re able to drive into these airplanes in terms of efficiency.”

“We’ve now got a fantastic product line,” added Paul Robinson, director, technical sales support. The ultra-long-range jets will be joined by the G400, with a range of 4,200 nm, and the G300, which will replace the super-midsize G280. The latter’s Collins-based avionics are being upgraded to Gulfstream’s Harmony suite, which adopts features common to the longer-range jets’ Honeywell-based Symmetry flight deck. Harmony is also Honeywell-based, but with three flight displays instead of the larger jets’ four and no data concentrator network.

“Harmony is a great name for all that amazing safety and workload-saving [technology],” Evans said. “[It adds] a harmonized flight deck airplane into our family,” hence the new name. “This is a huge part of our drive to create the safest business aircraft in the industry.

“The G650 created the foundation of where we are now,” Evans concluded. “The G550 changed the world, and the G650 added another thousand miles of capability. The current market wants to go faster for long distances, and the G700 and G800 give customers the ability to do just that."