Gulfstream failed to meet its 2024 aircraft delivery goal due to factors including supplier quality problems and shortages of the Rolls-Royce Pearl 700 turbofans that power the new ultra-long-range G700 business jet, according to the company.
R-R, however, insists its Pearl 700 deliveries have been on time.
Savannah-based Gulfstream delivered 136 aircraft in 2024, short of its goal of 150 deliveries, Gulfstream parent General Dynamics reported on 29 January.
“Aerospace revenue and earnings are less than we anticipated for both the quarter and the year because we did not deliver as many 700s as planned,” says General Dynamics chief executive Phebe Novakovic. “The supply chain is now performing much better to schedule, and even though we continue to be surprised by some quality escapes, the time it takes to identify and fix these faults has significantly improved.”
Those issues aside, General Dynamics’ aerospace business, which includes Gulfstream and aviation services company Jet Aviation, turned a $1.5 billion 2024 operating profit, up 24% year on year.
Gulfstream had aimed to deliver 50-52 G700s last year, says Novakovic. The Federal Aviation Administration certificated that 7,750nm (14,353km)-range jet in March 2024.
But Gulfstream ended the year having delivered only 30 G700s, including 15 in the fourth quarter – coming up short due to factors including “a supplier quality escape on a specific component” that arose late in the third quarter, says Novakovic.
That issue required Gulfstream to replace “several components on each planned aircraft delivery” and necessitated more test flights “to obtain a final certificate of airworthiness for each aircraft”.
Novakovic is not more specific about the issue. She says the company has “largely worked our way through this problem with the cooperation of the vendor”.
Gulfstream’s G700 deliveries were also delayed due to the type’s R-R Pearl 700 turbofans arriving “significantly late to schedule”, she adds.
R-R, however, insists its “powerplant deliveries were on time to Gulfstream’s schedule throughout last year and remain so in 2025”.
“Our Pearl 700 production and delivery schedule is closely aligned with Gulfstream’s production plan,” the engine maker adds.
To keep production humming, Gulfstream had been moving engine-less G700s to its completion centres before installing and testing engines – “a significant deviation from our process [that] proved to be detrimental to both cost and schedule”, Novakovic says.
“Once the aircraft begins its completion phase, these tests and follow-on corrections are substantially more cumbersome. So, what seemed like a rational decision at the time turned out to be quite troublesome,” she adds. “The good news is that most of the time-consuming aspects of this issue are behind us.”
Gulfstream also chose to paint jets before installing engines, necessitating “a significant amount of repaint” and “increased cost and time”, she adds.
The CEO says Gulfstream is “now largely receiving engines to schedule”. R-R did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hiccups involving “highly customised interiors” also slowed Gulfstream’s 2024 deliveries. “These intricacies are considered to be major changes for regulatory purposes. This resulted in longer-than-anticipated efforts to finalise and achieve supplemental type certificates,” Novakovic says. “This problem is largely behind us.”
Gulfstream is now working on certification of its 8,000nm-range G800, sister ship to the G700. It expects to achieve that milestone “sometime in the first half” of 2024, Novakovic says.
Story updated on 31 January to include comments from Rolls-Royce.
