End of an Era, Last Gulfstream G650 Rolls Off Production Line

The model that redefined the ultra-long-range (ULR) business jet segment—the G650/650ER—is now out of production, Gulfstream Aerospace announced today. The final one, a G650ER model, recently rolled off the production line at the company’s Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport campus in Georgia and will be completed at Gulfstream’s Appleton, Wisconsin facility before being delivered to a customer later this year.

Gulfstream announced the G650 program in March 2008, unveiled the first prototype (T1) in September 2009, and flew T1 two months later. In December 2012, the G650 entered service. Until today’s announcement, the G650—and its longer-legged (7,700 nm) G650ER sibling introduced in 2014—have been in continuous production since then. They will be succeeded by the G800, which borrows the G650/650ER’s fuselage and is poised to enter service this year.

“With the G650 and the follow-on G650ER, Gulfstream created the large ULR segment,” With almost 600 jets in service today, there is nothing diminutive about this family of business jets. The G650 quickly established itself as the aircraft of choice for [those] needing the capabilities of a high-speed wide-cabin intercontinental jet. The ER version…became the high watermark in Gulfstream’s portfolio.”

“Since their inception, the G650 and G650ER have become the industry standard that all others have followed, recently surpassing a staggering one million flight hours,” said Gulfstream president Mark Burns. Courtesy of AIN.