Gulfstream still planning G700 EIS Before End of 2022

Gulfstream says that its new G700 business jet is still heading towards customer deliveries “later this year.”

The company made the remarks in a press release issued during the 2022 European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Gulfstream’s parent company General Dynamic’s Chairman and CEO Phebe Novakovic previously stated that deliveries may slip into 2023 thanks to a new certification requirement requested by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Novakovic noted that whilst the majority of the G700 certification effort would be completed by Q4, the ultimate timing would be dictated by the FAA, which will perform an in-depth analysis of the G700s software, which Novakovic says is a first-time requirement.

“It is a model-based developmental software validation, a line-by-line examination of the plane software.” Said Novakovic.  “The level of effort is considerable. Completing 100% of the software validation is the impediment to finishing performance testing by the FAA and G800 first flight.”

Novakovic later answered an analyst question by saying that the FAA’s examination of the software code is “A result of events that are independent of us.”

Although she did not link it to any events, it is likely to be a reference to two accidents involving the software on Boeing’s 737 MAX 8 commercial airliners.

The G700 test campaign currently includes five flying aircraft, with one fitted out with a full customer interior. That aircraft will soon be joined by a second fully outfitted aircraft to evaluate more customer interior options.

“The G700 is performing flawlessly through the flight test program,” said Mark Burns, president of Gulfstream. “We have flown more than 2,800 flight hours across all flight test aircraft, and the G700 is exceeding our expectations for performance and comfort. In fact, our fully outfitted production test aircraft has already set seven international city-pair records, and we are looking forward to delivering the second outfitted aircraft soon.”

Gulfstream is displaying a G700 in the EBACE static display for the first time. Earlier it announced that the aircraft had set a city-pair record on its transatlantic flight to the show.

The G700 flew the leg from Gulfstream’s Savannah-home base to Geneva Switzerland in seven hours and 37 minutes at an average speed of Mach 0.90 using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).