Story ID: 
Gulfstream Deliveries Soar Despite Lingering G700 Delays
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: Gulfstream delivered 136 aircraft in 2024 and is expected to ramp up to 150 in 2025
Word Count: 743
Gulfstream Aerospace’s large-cabin deliveries jumped by 32.6% to 118 in 2024 as the company spooled up deliveries of its new G700 flagship, the company’s parent company, General Dynamics (GD), reported Wednesday morning.
However, despite “stunning” results, GD chairman and CEO Phebe Novakovic noted that revenues and earnings were lower than anticipated for its Aerospace group, including both Gulfstream and business aviation services provider Jet Aviation. This was a result of fewer G700 deliveries; Gulfstream had planned to hand over 50 last year but instead delivered 30, including just 15 of the 27 anticipated in the fourth quarter, she told analysts.
In all, the Savannah, Georgia manufacturer handed over 136 aircraft in 2024, a 22.5% increase over the 111 in 2023. That also reflected a four-unit decline in G280 deliveries to 18 in 2024.
Even so, the ramp-up in G700 deliveries, along with strong activity of its other large-cabin models, helped push up revenues at GD’s Aerospace unit by 30.5% to $11.249 billion in 2024. At the same time, operating earnings for the group were up 23.9% to $1.464 billion.
While chipping away at the multi-year backlog for its new ultra-long-range model that obtained certification last year, the Aerospace group maintained a book-to-bill ratio of close to 1:1, bringing in $11.278 billion in orders (not including cancelations and other adjustments), compared with $10.283 billion in 2023.
For the fourth quarter, Gulfstream delivered 47 aircraft, 42 of which were large-cabin models and five mid-cabins. This compares with 32 large-cabin deliveries and seven mid-cabins for a total of 39 in the final quarter of 2023.
As a result, the Aerospace group saw a surge in revenues in the fourth quarter of 2024, up 36.4% to $3.743 billion, and operator earnings were up almost as much, by 30.3%, to $585 million. The Aerospace segment ended the year with $19.7 billion, with the fourth-quarter orders reaching $3.8 billion.
Novakovic cited a few reasons for the fewer-than-anticipated G700 deliveries, primarily stemming from the “significantly late” engine arrivals for the model. In the face of delays, Gulfstream took a different approach to preparing the aircraft for delivery, namely painting and completing them ahead of engine delivery.
“This led to a significant amount of repaint that resulted in increased cost and time spent,” she said. “We elected to induct these aircraft into our completion centers before installing engines. This represented a significant deviation from our process and proved to be detrimental to both cost and schedule.”
Typically, Gulfstream runs the engines and tests the airplane systems under power, leading to potential corrections. “Once the aircraft begins its completion phase, these tests and follow-on corrections are substantially more cumbersome,” she explained. “So it seemed like a rational decision at the time turned out to be quite troublesome.”
Having said that, most of the time-consuming issues are “behind us,” she added; the company is receiving engines more on schedule and quality escapes have become more predictable.
Another issue she pointed to is the fact that many aircraft deliveries had highly customized interiors that took longer for approval. Also, a supplier quality escape on a specific component held up deliveries because it required replacements. “While it had a significant impact in both the third and fourth quarters, we have largely worked our way through this problem with the cooperation of the vendor,” Novakovic said.
She also noted many of the G700s were handed over to customers outside the U.S. requiring a longer approval process.
Operating margins at the group slid on the year from 13.7% in 2023 to 13% as the costs of completing certification and ramping up on a new program dampened the results slightly.
In light of the delivery challenges, Gulfstream is taking a “less aggressive planning posture” for 2025, anticipating it will have 150 deliveries. The first and fourth quarters will be stronger than the middle two quarters, but revenues should edge up to $12.65 billion for a year, $1.4 billion more than this year, and margins return to 2023 levels of 13.7%, she said.
However, market demand has remained strong and orders largely consistent with internal plans, Novakovic noted. “The delivery of the G700 and its performance in customer hands is driving increased demand for it, which we experienced in the quarter,” she said.
Interest has improved across all models both in the U.S. and Europe, while Middle East activity is strong, and Southeast Asia and China interest is improving. “Interestingly, the overall number of prospects in all areas continues to increase,” Novakovic concluded.