Gulfstream G800 certification expected in first half of 2025

February 3, 2025

Gulfstream is expecting to receive FAA certification of its upcoming long-range G800 business jet “sometime in the first half [of 2025],” Phebe Novakovic, chairman and CEO of parent company General Dynamics, has highlighted.
During General Dynamics’ most recent earnings call, Novakovic highlighted that working capital engaged in both programmes will “begin to unwind at the end of 2025, maybe a little earlier”. Although unforthcoming with more specific details as to when certification might be finalised, “both programmes are going very nicely,” she added.
For 2025, Gulfstream is expecting to deliver about the same number of G800s as G650s, “give or take a few airplanes”. Referencing the supplier delays that have impacted 2024’s G700 deliveries (with around 20 less units delivered than originally expected last year), Novakovic highlighted the synergies between issues already addressed on the G700 with the upcoming G800.
“We think we have worked our way through the most significant problems… that we experienced on the 700. Remember the commonality of parts is almost identical,” she continued. “So we think the learning that we achieved on the 700 will be very advantageous on the 800”.
Both aircraft use the Rolls-Royce Pearl engine (which received FAA certification in September 2023), late deliveries of which prompted Gulfstream to induct several units of the G700 into its completion centres minus the powerplants. With significant work required to repaint affected airframes, this “represented a significant deviation from our process and proved to be detrimental to both cost and schedule,” clarified Novakovic. However, Gulfstream is now “largely receiving engines to schedule”.
In November 2024, the company also celebrated the first flight of the G800 outfitted for cabin interior testing, with Gulfstream president Mark Burns noting at the time that the flight test programme was “making great progress, reaffirming [Gulfstream’s] confidence in the flexibility, durability and reliability this aircraft will provide”.
The G800 is the longest-range offering in Gulfstream’s portfolio, offering a range of 7,000nm at Mach 0.9. First announced in 2021, the G800 made its inaugural flight in 2022, with initial certification expectations set for early 2024. The new jet is set to replace the G650, which entered service in 2012.