SPEAKING AT EBACE on May 25, Mark Burns, president of Gulfstream Aerospace, announced the prototype Gulfstream G800 will fly "very shortly". The company has already built the first example for the flight test campaign. The 8,000nm G800 will replace the 7,500nm G650 in the company's portfolio, although Burns stated the planned production of the earlier design has been extended because of customer demand.The rate of production for the G650 has been increased for 2022 and will remain at the higher rate at least into 2024, to cope with exceptional demand - described by Burns as "phenomenal" - in the last five quarters. Gulfstream had a set date in mind for the end of G650 production when it launched the G800 in October 2021, but thanks to the surge in orders, largely created by the COVID-19 pandemic, this was abandoned and today the company has no definitive deadline for when the last G650 will roll-out of the factory at Savannah, Georgia. The G800 is expected to enter service in 2023.Burns also revealed that manufacture of the first G400 has begun. The aircraft will be the company's new model at the 'smaller' end of its portfolio, currently occupied by the G280. Gulfstream expects the new aircraft will enter service in 2025.
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