Stuttgart-based DC Aviation has become the first charter customer for Gulfstream’s in-certification G400 business jet.
The operator has placed an order for one of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW812GA-powered twinjet, which flew for the first time on 15 August. Gulfstream expects to begin deliveries in 2025.
During a signing ceremony at the Savannah-based manufacturer’s Farnborough, UK service centre on 12 September, Svenja Wortmann, DC Aviation’s joint managing director, said the large cabin type would be “a perfect addition to the fleet” and give it an edge on European charter competitors. “We like the idea of being first in the market,” she says.
Although Gulfstream does not normally announce launch customers for aircraft types, DC Aviation is the G400’s only named future operator so far.
The G400 is to be DC Aviation’s fifth Gulfstream, but the first purchased by the company. All but four of its 34-strong fleet – which includes a Gulfstream G280, G550 and G650, Bombardier Challengers and Globals, Dassault Falcons, and Textron Aviation Citations – are third-party owned and under management contracts.
Gulfstream group vice-president of international sales Michael Swift expects the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions will account for “a large amount of G400s [sales] in the coming years”, citing the 4,200nm (7,780km)-range aircraft’s “ramp presence and performance”. It can fly, for instance, routes including Zurich-New York, Munich-Mumbai and Geneva-Dubai.
The G400 is to share a type rating with the G500 and the G600. But its cockpit has commonality with the larger G700 and G800 – the three jets all have Symmetry flight decks with active control sidesticks – making the G400 attractive as a fleet aircraft, asserts Swift. Its cabin layout can be configured for nine, 11 or 12 passengers.
Gulfstream plans to add four more G400s to the flight test programme, which it says is “progressing very well”. The G400 was unveiled along with the ultra-long-range G800 in 2021.
DC Aviation – which was spun out of the flight department of the then-DaimlerChrysler auto company 26 years ago – also offers third-party maintenance in Stuttgart and Dubai and operates a fixed-base operation at Nice.
It has aircraft registered in Germany, Malta, San Marino and the United Arab Emirates, where it operates a joint venture with Dubai-based business Al-Futtaim.
