Aircraft maker Gulfstream has been in business since all the way back in 1958, and it has probably made thousands of airplanes since. So when the company says it completed “the most rigorous certification program in company history,” that must mean quite a lot.
Until now, the tweaked G700 has been in the air pretty much for testing purposes alone, as the plane did not have the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type certification yet. That changed this week, when America’s aviation watchdog finally cleared the plane to fly in customers’ hands.
The G700 began flying regularly back in 2019, when it joined the company’s existing lineup of seven aircraft. At the end of last year it got significantly improved in terms of range, speed, and cabin altitude, so it once again needed to be certified. And that certification, it seems, beat Gulfstream’s expectations about the plane.
The pair of Rolls-Royce engines that power it allows the plane to reach speeds of Mach 0.935 (717 mph/1,155 kph). That’s a small but noticeable increase from what came before, and made this plane the fastest Gulfstream around.
In the new configuration, the G700 can fly for distances as long as 8,919 miles (14,353 km, when the speed is slightly lower than the maximum). That’s a 288-mile (463 km) increase over what its makers expected the plane to be capable of.
In terms of cabin altitude (meaning the pressure inside the cabin, generally kept above sea level), the G700 already had the lowest number in the industry, but that was brought down even further in the new variant. What that means is people traveling inside the plane feel like being at 2,840 feet (866 meters) above sea level, all while the plane is actually flying at 41,000 feet (12,497 meters).
The FAA certification also delivered some surprises when it comes to the plane’s abilities on the ground: it seems both the takeoff and landing distances are shorter than anticipated, standing at 5,995 feet (1,827 meters) and 3,150 feet (960 meters), respectively.
Now that the FAA hurdle is out of the way, Gulfstream is looking to have the plane fly in customers’ hands soon enough. And they should all fly in style, as the airplane maker promises “the most spacious aircraft in business aviation” with enough room for up to 19 passengers (or just 13, if they all want to sleep in-flight).
Gulfstream doesn’t say publicly how much the G700 costs (that also depends greatly on the customer-requested specifications), but the industry places the price of the thing at around $75 million.
