Gulfstream G500 and G550 Jets Fleet Surpasses 200,000 Flight Hours

Released on Friday, April 25, 2008

SAVANNAH, Ga., April 25, 2008 - The ultra-long-range Gulfstream G550 and G500 business-jet fleet recently surpassed 200,000 flight hours in less than five years since the first G550 entered service on Sept. 29, 2003. The fleet leader accounted for close to 6,000 of those hours, while nearly 170 additional G550 and G500 aircraft in service around the world contributed the remainder.

If hours accumulated by the 192 GVs currently in service were included, the total hours flown as of March 31, 2008, would be 935,890 for all three aircraft models.

The in-service G550/G500 fleet has a 12-month dispatch reliability rate of 99.84 percent. In addition, the G550 has established close to 40 city-pair speed records. The most notable is a 14.5-hour, 7,301-nautical-mile nonstop flight from Seoul, South Korea, to Orlando, Fla., on Oct. 3, 2003. That record was set less than two weeks after the aircraft entered service.

The G550 program began in 1999 as an advanced cockpit project and evolved into a total aircraft upgrade, initially known as the GV-SP. At the National Business Aviation Association's (NBAA) Annual Meeting and Convention in September 2002, Gulfstream unveiled the new, seven-aircraft product line that included the G550, which replaced the GV-SP.

In a Gulfstream first, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the G550 type and production certificates on the same day, Aug. 14, 2003. The first G550 was delivered on Sept. 17, 2003. The G500 was certified by the FAA in December 2003 and was delivered to its first customer in May 2004.

The G550/G500 were the first to feature the PlaneView® cockpit, including modular avionics units from Honeywell, four large liquid crystal displays and two signature Cursor Control Devices � one for the pilot and one for the copilot.

Both the G550 and G500 offer customers safety, performance, reliability and comfort. With different price and performance points, the G550 can fly 6,750 nautical miles without refueling, while the G500 can fly up to 5,800 nautical miles nonstop. The G550/G500 Development Team was honored by the National Aeronautic Association in 2003 for its technological break-through in aviation with the Robert J. Collier Trophy, the most prestigious aviation award in the United States.