Gulfstream grows G300 and G400 flight-test fleets

Airframer confident on progress towards certification for in-development jets but declines to speculate on timelines.
Gulfstream is continuing to accelerate flight testing of the G300 and G400 – its two in-development jets – as the airframer works to complete a full refresh of its entire line-up.

Detailing the progress at a pre-NBAA-BACE press conference on 19 October, Mark Burns, president of the Savannah, Georgia manufacturer, said the G400 programme is “going really well”.

The four-strong flight-test fleet is now complete, he says, noting a fully cabin-outfitted example performed its maiden sortie in the last seven days.

During that mission, the twinjet flew for around 3.5h and up to 48,000ft, he says, adding: “We are really making good progress with the flight testing”.

However, Burns makes no prediction of when the 4,200nm (7,780km)-range G400 might enter service: “I don’t make that call,” he says.

At the G400’s launch in 2021, Gulfstream set a 2025 certification goal – a target that has come and gone with no update to the timeline. The Pratt & Whitney Canada PW812GA-powered twinjet first flew in August 2024.

“I don’t really have a time schedule of when, but I will tell you, the things aviation people worry about – flights into known icing, the handling characteristics of the airplane – all that has gone fine on the G400,” he says.

Gulfstream has certificated four aircraft over the last seven years and Burns says the G400 “benefits tremendously” from lessons learned during that process, plus the commonality with its larger G500 and G600 siblings.

And Burns remains confident there are no showstoppers preventing US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval.

“I don’t see any performance issues or any issues that would delay us getting to the finish line, but again, it’s not our finish line.”

Certification of the G700 – finally achieved in March 2024 – proved particularly challenging, in part due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic but also due to failings at the FAA.

While Burns says he was “probably the most vocal person on the planet during the G700 [development] about my dissatisfaction with the certification process”, the agency has since made tangible improvements.

These were visible during the FAA’s validation of the G800, a milestone achieved in April last year: “It couldn’t have gone better,” he says.

Meanwhile, two G300 prototypes are now complete, while the third and final example is in final assembly. Although only one of the 3,600nm-range jets is currently flying, the second prototype will shortly make its maiden sortie.

“And when we get the third airplane in the air, I think you’ll really start to see flight tests accelerate.”

Assembly of the G300 takes place at the Tel Aviv facility of programme partner Israel Aerospace Industries, which also built the G280 – the new jet’s predecessor.

Burns says Gulfstream has now delivered 137 G700s, while also shipping 34 G800s since the latter entered service in August 2025.

With production of the G500 and G600 also accelerating, Gulfstream is on course to hand over a total of 160 jets this year.

But the airframer is not stopping there. Burns points out that its factories are designed to “build more than 160 airplanes” each year, with 200 the next logical milestone: “Barring any unforeseen catastrophe, I think it’s inevitable,” he says.

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